The Pink Rose Solution
by notjaneausten
Summary: A little AU tale of how the journey home from Arizona might have gone had Amy vented her frustration on Sheldon in the car. Based on the promo released for 8x01. Disclaimer: All characters remain the property of Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady; hail!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I've only seen a teaser from 8x01 as it hasn't shown over here in the UK yet…this is how I imagined the journey home might have gone like….**

Leonard was still half asleep as he stumbled his way across to the coffee pot, briefly grimacing at Penny's offer to join her in yoga practice. They had been making the most of Sheldon's absence by spending the majority of their time over in 4A which was roomier than Penny's apartment across the hall. Leonard had barely taken a sip of his coffee when his phone started to vibrate with an incoming call.

"Hello?" Leonard checked his watch and frowned a little when he saw that it was barely even seven thirty in the morning.  
>"Hello Leonard." Leonard's face brightened when he heard the sound of Sheldon's voice on the phone.<p>

"Hey buddy, good to hear your voice."

"I'm in Kingman, Arizona and I need you to come pick me up."

"I'd love to…" Leonard thought on his feet, and watched Penny balance on one leg on the yoga mat, and was struck by sudden inspiration. "But I'm just about to do yoga with Penny."

"Leonard…I'm at the police station. I was robbed! They took my phone, my wallet, my ipad…everything!" Sheldon's stressed tone had Leonard straightening up and paying more attention.

"My God! Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! I'm wearing borrowed pants, I don't have ID and one of the officers here won't stop calling me 'chicken legs'."

"Okay, I'll come get you. What's the address?" Leonard started scribbling down the address that Sheldon was reciting, and Penny wandered over to see what the matter was.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking over Leonard's shoulder as he continued writing. He cupped his hand over the phone and filled her in on the situation.

"He got all his stuff stolen." Leonard said and then turned back to the phone. "Sheldon, hang tight. Do you want me to bring anything?"

"Yes, please. A pair of pants, and my toothbrush…and my mail…and a really good comeback for chicken legs because 'I know you are, but what am I?' was met with stony silence."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Leonard agreed and disconnected the call.

"Is he okay?" Penny asked in concern, Leonard shrugged a little as he started walking into the living room.

"Yeah, he's fine; just a little rattled. You feel like driving to Arizona with me?"

"I can't, I have that job interview this morning." Penny refused with a slight shrug.

"Oh, right."

"Besides, I don't need six hours of 'your hair is different, why did you change your hair? I'm holding my breath until your hair grows back'." Penny ran her hand through her pixie cut and mimicked Sheldon's voice.

"All right, fine. Can you think of a reason why I shouldn't invite Amy to come with me?" _Please think of a reason, please, please?_

"Nope." Penny didn't bat an eyelash as she walked back over to her yoga mat and reassumed her sun salutation pose.

"Come on, you didn't even try!"

"Nope." She said again and Leonard began calling the one person that he knew would jump at the chance of a road trip, especially when it meant meeting her beloved Sheldon at the end of the line.

"Amy? How would you feel about coming on a little road trip with me…No! Not like that! It's Sheldon, he's got himself into a bit of a fix and needs us to go and collect him…where from? Arizona…Sure, I'll pick you up in fifteen outside your building…" Leonard hung up and scowled over at Penny's calm expression of serenity. "Guess it's settled then, six hours in a moving vehicle with Amy Farrah Fowler…the nightmare has begun."

"Ah, sweetie, don't be like that. You get along great with Amy, what about that wedding the two of you went to; you said you had a great time."

"Yeah, I guess." Leonard sighed as he walked down the hallway to get dressed. "But that wasn't six hours…imagine what it will be like when there's two of them together on the way back!"

"Suck it up, big boy. You were the one that signed that stupid agreement in the first place…" Penny called out and Leonard sighed again as he vented his frustration by slamming his bedroom door shut with a loud crash.

"Stupid roommate agreement…" He muttered as he threw on a shirt and some pants, before shoving his feet into a pair of sneakers. He left his room and went into Sheldon's to gather up a spare pair of pants and an unopened toothbrush from Sheldon's emergency supply kit. He ignored Sheldon's request for his mail and kissed Penny's cheek in passing as he collected his keys from the bowl by the door and made his way slowly down the stairwell, repeating under his breath the whole time…stupid roommate agreement, stupid roommate agreement. Six hours later, he was still using it as his mantra for keeping calm as he and Amy stepped out of the car into the blazing summer heat of Arizona. They were shown the way through the station and directed to go through the swinging doors at the back of the corridor.

"Sheldon…"

"Leonard!" Sheldon exclaimed as he looked up to see his roommate step through the doors. "I'm so happy to see you!" Sheldon raced over and much to Leonard's surprise gave him friendly hug in greeting.

"Are you okay?" Amy stepped out from behind Leonard and Sheldon turned around in surprise.

"I'm fine…Why did **you** come?" Sheldon had called Leonard to come and rescue him and had hoped to keep the unfortunate events of the last few hours completely between the two of them; it wasn't enough to have all of his belongings stolen from him, he now had Amy as a witness to his humiliation. Amy looked over at her boyfriend with a look of hurt in her eyes; he hadn't even given her any sign of affection and it was starting to grate on her last nerve.

"What do you mean – why did I come? You're my boyfriend, I haven't seen you in over a month. I just drove over six hours to help you out, don't you have anything else to say to me besides 'why did you come?' Did it even occur to you that I drove six hours, stuck in a car with Leonard, because I don't know…maybe I was worried about you?" Amy's voice rose shrilly towards the end of her tirade and even Leonard was starting to feel more than a little sorry for her. She'd taken Sheldon's leaving in her stride, devoting more time to her research in his absence but still finding time to have the occasional take out meal with the guys. She'd never once taken herself over to the apartments uninvited, and Leonard knew that Penny was feeling a little guilty for ignoring her best friend over the last month or so, but it seemed wedding fever had struck 2311 Los Robles Avenue and it had struck hard taking every one down with it.

"Little harsh, Sheldon." Leonard muttered to his friend, knowing that Sheldon couldn't help but hear due to his very keen sense of hearing. Sheldon's eye twitched a little, giving away his tension but he remained silent.

"I do, but…I feel uncomfortable saying it out loud in front of these police officers." Sheldon finally said quietly as he stepped a little closer to Amy. She smiled faintly and gestured for him to bend down.

"Fine, whisper it."

"Shotgun!" Sheldon whispered as he ran out of the swinging doors and into the corridor. He was stopped at the front desk by the admin clerk waving some paperwork at him.

"Sir, you still need to sign the incident report."

"Very well." Sheldon sighed and bent over the paperwork, scanning it over quickly to make sure that no details had been missed off. Amy nudged Leonard's shoulder and held out her hand.

"Leonard, please pass me the keys; I'm going to wait for you in the car." Leonard warily passed across the keys, silently hoping that the car would still be in the parking lot when he and Sheldon got outside. He knew how volatile Amy could be sometimes, and had a tiny scar on his cheek to prove it from where she hit him in the face with a cushion the very day that Sheldon had left. He waited until Amy had left before turning around to face Sheldon with a heavy sigh.

"All right, what's going on?" Sheldon blinked hard and looked surprised at the questioning.

"Nothing, Leonard. I just needed some clothes and a ride home; I didn't expect you to bring along a travelling companion and I was a little surprised to see that Amy would have willingly forced herself to endure six hours alone in a moving car with you."

"Yeah, well…I didn't really have a lot of choice. Everyone else is working, and for some unknown reason; Amy actually wanted to come along. I can't think why…" Leonard muttered the last part with deep sarcasm, which of course went straight over Sheldon's head as usual.

"I see." Sheldon murmured and his gaze flicked over to the clock behind the admin desk. "Well, if we want to be home by the time Game of Thrones start, we'd better get a move on. Come on, Leonard hop to it." Sheldon walked out of the station and looked back over his shoulder to see if Leonard was following behind.

"Thanks for picking me up, Leonard. I appreciate the fact that you've taken the day away from your own research to drive all the way to Arizona to save my sorry ass…" Leonard grumbled under his breath sarcastically as he shuffled out into the blazing sun, Sheldon patted his shoulder as he passed him on the way to the car.

"There, there, Leonard. I'm sure your little project is still in exactly the same state as it was when I left forty-five days ago…one more day will hardly make the slightest difference."

"Get in the car, Sheldon." Leonard ordered between clenched teeth, wondering how on earth he'd been able to put up with Sheldon's condescending attitude for so long. The time he had spent living with Penny over the last six weeks had made him far happier than the past ten years ever had done, and he had made great strides in his research during Sheldon's absence due to that fact. The two men climbed into the car and Leonard glanced over to see Amy quickly flipping her phone back to silent mode after listening to some music while she waited for their arrival.

"I love that song! You could've just left it on…"

"It's one Penny recommended to me. She said it worked rather well for the two of you at one time." Amy ran her hands over the screen of her phone, a sad fleeting smile quickly flitted across her face as she met Leonard's eyes in the mirror.

"Yeah…she was trying to romance the pants off me one evening, and was desperately failing; so I stuck this on the ipod and we danced by candlelight…good times."

"Ah yes, I believe she stated that you claimed to be the 'romance ninja', and whilst I find that hard to believe, I do rather like the song." Amy gave Leonard a small smile and turned back to checking her phone for messages, hoping that there was a reply on the way from her bestie, Penny. She'd typed a furious text as soon as she'd reached the car, and was now desperately hoping for a response to her plea.

"Please…you both know how I abhor music whilst travelling. I beg you, don't make me listen to any caterwauling laments of despair…I had enough of that growing up back home." Sheldon muttered as he checked that his seatbelt was securely fastened. Leonard met Amy's eyes in the mirror and they shared an amused look, it was almost as if Sheldon had never been away. "Hey, do you know what happens when you play a country song backwards? You get…"

"You get your house back, you get your dog back, you get your best friend Jack back…" Leonard and Amy started singing together in a rendition of a Rascal Flatts song that they had listened to on the drive down. They'd spent very little time alone together over the past four years, but when they did, Leonard always managed to have a good time. He'd once told Sheldon that Amy knew how to make a man loosen up and enjoy himself; Sheldon had judo chopped him in the shoulder for that remark and Leonard had tried to explain that he'd merely pulled a groin muscle when trying to do the Hokey Pokey when he'd escorted Amy to one of her colleague's wedding.

"Oh, you've heard that one…don't forget you get your woman back too." Sheldon crossed his arms over his chest and turned to look out of the side window at the passing scenery. Leonard sent Amy a grin again in the mirror, but his smile faded as he saw how sad she looked staring at the back of Sheldon's head. After a couple of hours driving, and forcing Leonard to listen to his long monologues about the various aspects of his trip, Sheldon turned slightly in his seat to face Amy.

"Hey Amy, are you ready for the mustard round?"

"Have you not noticed that I've been sitting quietly back here stewing for the past two hours?" Amy gave Sheldon a pointed look and he waved his hand in the air dismissing her words.

"I just thought you were bad at the game."

"I'm mad at you. How could you just go away like that without even saying goodbye? And then you call Leonard for help instead of me!" Amy folded her arms across her chest and slumped back against the back seat. Sheldon thought for a moment before turning back to her.

"Amy, may I please have a moment of privacy with my roommate?" He asked quietly, Amy merely snorted and muttered back sarcastically.

"We're in a moving car, Sheldon. What do you expect me to do, stick my fingers in my ears?" Amy muttered sarcastically and Sheldon beamed in response.

"Well I was think put your head out of the window like a dog, but that'll work. Please? I'll be quick."He waited until Amy had stuck her fingers in her ears before shifting slightly in his seat to face Leonard. "Leonard, as soon as we get home I want to have coitus with Amy." Leonard nearly skidded out of the lane at the matter of fact statement from Sheldon, and he was sure that he was going to need his inhaler any minute. Sheldon peeked over his shoulder to see Amy's face, her calm exterior suggested that she was in fact unable to hear his conversation.

"Okay, she can't hear. Leonard, the reason I called you is because…I didn't want Amy to know that I couldn't make it on my own."

"What's the big deal?"

"Of course it's no big deal to you. You idolise me and nothing could ever knock me off that pedestal you put me on."

"It's true, you are a God to me." Leonard replied sarcastically, and Amy pulled her fingers out of her ears when she couldn't see Sheldon's lips moving any longer.

"Can I stop now?"

"Just tell her." Leonard advised Sheldon, feeling sympathetic towards his roommate as he glanced over to see the misery etched on his lean face. Sheldon thought about it for a while and then turned around to get Amy's attention. She lowered her hands and waited for him to speak.

"I called Leonard because I failed ad I didn't want you to think less of me."  
>"You were worried about that?" Amy had tears glistening in her eyes and started to lean forward.<p>

"Yes."

"Sheldon, it's okay with me that you're not perfect." Before Amy could say any more, Sheldon requested one more quick moment with Leonard and gestured for her to plug her ears back up again.

"Leonard, Amy hurt my feelings. I want to break up with her." Unfortunately Amy hadn't quite managed to block her hearing completely and caught all of his remark. She leant through the middle console and hit Sheldon on the arm with her phone.

"God Sheldon, you can be such an ass! Did it ever occur to you how I might be feeling right now?"  
>"Amy! That hurt!" Sheldon rubbed his arm and glared over at his girlfriend.<p>

"Good! It was supposed to! Do you remember how many calls, texts and Skype messages you exchanged with me over the past forty-five days? Of course you do, you are the one with the eidetic memory after all…" Amy muttered the last part under her breath before Sheldon even open his mouth to reply. "Six, Sheldon! Six! Two calls, three texts and a single lousy Skype…that's all I got the whole time you were away."

"Jeez Sheldon…I called Penny that many times when I was at a two day conference…Really, you were away from your girlfriend for nearly seven weeks and you only contacted her six times?" Leonard was amazed, he'd have thought that Amy would have been crying on Penny's shoulder long before now…but then Penny hadn't been spending an awful lot of time with Amy recently, neither had Bernadette. Leonard felt guilty again and tried to apologise to Amy with his eyes, but she just kept her head turned out of the side window, ignoring his attempts to get her attention.

"I kept up my part of our agreement, I texted you on every date night even though I couldn't be there in person. And I Skyped you on your birthday…"

"We missed your birthday? Amy, why didn't you say anything to us, we could've had a party." Leonard was ashamed that the whole gang had completely ignored Amy's birthday, especially since she went to so much trouble when it came to one of theirs.

"It's no big deal, Leonard. I had a chat with my Mother and had a nice bouquet of flowers from the monkeys at the lab, I know they were really from Dr. Gundersen but he'd signed it with love from Betsy and Harry, so it was okay…I had a bath and went to bed early."

"But it was your birthday!" Leonard protested again, and Amy just continued to stare out of the side window. Leonard felt a sharp jab in his side and turned to see Sheldon scowling at him.

"I thought I asked you all to look over Amy in my absence, I e-mailed you all with a reminder the day before informing you of the occasion."

"Wait! You e-mailed everyone reminding them not to forget my birthday?" Amy suddenly sat up on the backseat and looked surprised at the news.

"Of course, I reminded them all to give you the card that I left for you in my desk drawer…They didn't give you the card, did they?" Sheldon twisted in his seat and from the look on Amy's face guessed correctly, which earned Leonard another jab in the ribs.

"Hey! I lost track of all the e-mails you sent, I stopped reading them after the first dozen or so…"

"Dozen or so? DOZEN OR SO!" Amy's voice rose higher and higher in pitch until she was almost shrieking in anger. "You are a lousy excuse for a boyfriend, Sheldon Cooper! I bet you've got pre-written birthday cards, Christmas Cards and sympathy cards are written out and tucked away inside the relevant person's folder."

"Um, yes?" Sheldon admitted quietly, he saw nothing wrong with being prepared. So the cards were a little impersonal but he couldn't turn down a bargain lot for only two dollars at Target.

"Urgggh!" Amy groaned in frustration, and slapped him on the shoulder with her phone again. "I wasn't expecting a grand declaration of your undying devotion or to have you stick your tongue down my throat; but would it have killed you to at least pretend to be happy to see me? We were doing so well before you left, and now it's like we're right back to where we started. I can't take this anymore!" A bleeping from her phone had Amy looking down and checking her messages.

"Amy, calm down. We're only a couple of hours out of Pasadena now, I'm sure you guys can sit and talk all of this out tonight when we get back."

"Oh, no Leonard. Not tonight, a) not only is Game of Thrones on tonight, b) it's not Thursday so it cannot possibly be classed as a date night and c) well, I just don't want to!"

"You know what Sheldon? It may come as a surprise to you, but I don't want to either!" Amy yelled out from the backseat and both Sheldon and Leonard winced at her strident tone. "Leonard, pull over."

"What?"

"Pull the frickin' car over right now, or I swear to God I'll hand myself in to the nearest police officer and confess to a double homicide! Just do it!"

"I would do as she suggests, Leonard. Something tells me that she is not in a joking mood right now." Sheldon advised quietly and Leonard turned around to mutter sarcastically;

"Yeah, and what was your first clue? God, Sheldon you are a complete ass sometimes." Leonard checked the stream of traffic and pulled into the off ramp which lead to a Target store. He noticed a familiar looking beige sedan idling in the parking lot and knew exactly Amy had been texting on the journey back. "Amy, your ride's here."

"Thank you, Leonard for stating the obvious as usual." Amy opened the rear door and prepared to slide out, before she closed the door she leant over to murmur into Sheldon's ear. "It's Tuesday, you have two days to come up with a valid reason to continue on with this sham of a romance. I'll expect you at my door promptly at seven o'clock with a heartfelt apology, if not consider this your three day notice of termination. Good day, gentlemen." Amy slammed the door shut and strode over to Penny's waiting car and the men watched as Penny pealed out of the lot with a squeal of burning rubber.

"She must have left Pasadena straight after her interview and drove like a bat out of hell to get here before us. Sheldon, if you want to keep that woman in your life, you need to get your game on." Leonard looked out at Penny's retreating vehicle and glanced over at Sheldon who was sitting hunched over in the passenger seat, slack jawed with a combination of shock and amusement.

"You vixen, Amy Farrah Fowler. Leonard, warp speed ahead if you will…I have a woman to woo." Sheldon snapped his fingers in front of Leonard and then tapped on the dashboard.

"Uh? Oh…course laid in, Captain."

"Make it so." Sheldon waved his arm in a gesture not unlike Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise and Leonard gave a little smirk as he pulled out of the parking lot and turned into the flow of traffic. It seemed Sheldon got game after all…


	2. Chapter 2

Sheldon left Leonard parking the car and vaulted up the four flights of stairs to his apartment, barely even aware of the glare Penny shot him as he brushed past her on the stairs.

"Sheldon…"

"Not now, Penny…in the zone." Sheldon muttered as he flung himself down into his desk chair and then jumped up like a scalded cat when he realised that his laptop was in his messenger bag which was among the possessions stolen away from him the day before. He swapped over to Leonard's desk and bypassed the security on his laptop with a few swift strokes on the keyboard.

"Sheldon…" Penny followed him into the apartment and Sheldon looked up from the screen with a heavy sigh. "Woman, if you persist in continue your infernal attempts at interference please do so at a time when I am not trying my trying to figure out how to win my own damned woman back! Now, scoot…!" Sheldon waved Penny out of the door, whilst she was still spluttering her objections to being herded out of the door like a stray piece of cattle. "Oh, by the way…I hate your hair." Sheldon added as he closed the door firmly behind Penny and close the door to hopefully prevent any further interruptions. His fingers flew swiftly over the keyboard as his eyes scrolled down the page, brow wrinkling in confusion as he continued to read. "Nordic tribes in the 19th century would seek out single members of the tribe that carried an empty sheath, one would signal their intentions by placing a knife into the woman's sheath…Mmm, sounds a little too much what Wolowitz might do, if you ask me." Sheldon crossed that one off his mental list and scanned down the page. "English gentlemen would offer the lady of their choice a pair of gloves, if the lady wore the gloves to church on the following Sunday it was her way of agreeing to the relationship….hmmm far more civilised. I wonder if Amy would appreciate a fine pair of gloves." Sheldon looked up with a frown as the door to the apartment opened yet again. "Leonard, might I remind you that you no longer reside within these walls?"

"Well, that's not your laptop either…so here we are." Leonard tossed his keys into the bowl on the stand next to the door and flopped onto the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "Whatcha reading?"

"Hmm…ancient courtship rituals…" Sheldon murmured as his eyes continued to scroll down the page. "Hmm…beheading, yucky!" He swivelled around on the chair to look at Leonard. "Did you know that in Norway a young man could simply slip his knife into any young woman's sheath to indicate that he was interested in her?"

"Yeah that sounds mighty like what I do with Penny every night…" Leonard mused from the couch, which earned him yet another one of Sheldon's scowls. "Jeez, Sheldon why don't you concentrate on what might make Amy feel appreciated rather than ancient rites of courtship that went out with the ark! Flowers, chocolates, a book of poetry even…"

"Leonard…you may be onto something there…why didn't I think of that before?" Sheldon looked over at his roommate, before raising his finger in the air. "Oh, I've got it! Because they are lame ideas that lack one single iota of originality…No, I need something to truly wow her with…"

"You could try sleeping with her." Leonard muttered from the couch, "That's original and coming from you, would be a total surprise."

"Leonard, please refrain from speaking of my girlfriend in such vulgar tones…when Amy and I actually engage in the act of coitus, it will not be something that either one of us will take lightly." Sheldon scolded Leonard and turned back to the laptop, completely missing the frantic way Leonard was texting his fiancée.

**Penny, Sheldon totally admitted that he wants to sleep with Amy! L xx**

**OMG! Coming over right now! P xx**

**NO!**

**Did you just use shouty capitals on me?**

**Sorry….you can't come over otherwise he will know that you know, and I don't want him know that I let you know**

**L****xx P**

**Aww, be home soon; fill you in with all the deets then L xx**

**I'll be waiting…. P xx**

"Sheldon, you're humming…" Leonard remarked as he put his phone away and leant his head to one side as he caught Sheldon's low tones.

"Oh, it's that darned song Amy was playing when we got into the car…I can't seem to get the melody out of my head. It's driving me crazy…sometimes it's torture having a memory like mine." Sheldon pressed his fingers into his skull in an attempt to drive out the noise from his brain. "I don't even know what the words are, but that tune keeps playing over and over on a never ending loop. Aarghhh!"

"Here." Leonard pressed a few buttons on his keyboard and soon the sounds of the song Amy was playing filled the small apartment. "Give it a listen, it may give you a few ideas…I'm going over to Penny's for a bit. Give me a shout if you need anything."

"Hmm…" Sheldon waved Leonard away as he concentrated on the lyrics coming through the tiny speakers. "Poppycock!" He muttered as his fingers hovered over the button that would cancel the infernal noise; something made him hesitate though and instead of switching it off, he started it from the beginning again and listened a little more closely. Leonard smiled ruefully as he opened the door of Penny's apartment. He could hear the sounds of the song starting up again and he pulled Penny to her feet and dragged her out into the hallway.

"Miss, I believe that they are playing our song. Would you care to dance?"

"I'd be delighted young man." Penny gave a slight curtsey as she moved into Leonard's arms and leant her head against his shoulder. They gently swayed to and fro as they heard Sheldon start the song over again. "Mmm…I don't think I will ever get tired of listening to this song…" Penny sighed and brushed her lips over Leonard's cheeks in a gentle kiss.

"Do you think he will get it though?" Leonard asked as he wondered whether Sheldon would understand the message behind the beautiful lyrics.

"I'd like to say yes, but knowing Sheldon as well as we do…not a chance." Penny rubbed her cheek against the soft material of Leonard's jacket and leant back slightly to gaze into his eyes. "I understood it though, and the look on your face when you saw that I had kept all of those little memento's…well that was enough for me."

"Me, too…I guess we both earned the right to the title of 'romance ninja' that night, I still find it hard to believe that you kept every little receipt and scrap of paper."

"I told you before, Leonard, those little things – they're you…the ticket that you bought me when I couldn't afford to fly home, the receipt from our first date…that beautiful letter…those are my roses; I don't need anything else from you to know that you love me." Penny stroked her finger down the side of Leonard's face and across his lips, tracing his smile.

"I do love you Penny, so much."

"And I love you…" They leant forward and exchanged a tender kiss, while still standing in the middle of the hallway. Sheldon opened his apartment door and made a moue of disgust at the sight before tapping Leonard on the shoulder.

"Leonard, I need your help." Leonard reluctantly tore himself away from his beautiful fiancée and turned around to face Sheldon, keeping one arm wrapped around Penny's waist.

"Sure buddy, what's up?"

"I don't understand this song at all…"

"Do you want me to explain it to you, sweetie?" Penny asked gently, when Sheldon nodded she went back into her apartment to retrieve the box of keepsakes from the top shelf of her closet. She handed them over to Sheldon and walked back into his apartment and patted the seat beside her on the couch. Sheldon ran his eyes over the contents of the box and looked up at Penny with a blank expression.

"I still don't understand."

"Okay, we'll take it slowly. Leonard, sweetie do you want to play the track again for me?" Leonard crossed over to the laptop and the song began again, "Sheldon, I want you to listen closely to the first verse and the chorus and tell me what you think it means."

_'__He works hard to give her all he thinks she wants_

_A three car garage and her own credit cards_

_He pulls in late to wake her up with a kiss goodnight_

_If only he could read her mind, she'd say:_

_Buy me a rose, call me from work_

_Open the door for me, what would it hurt_

_Show me you love me by the look in your eyes_

_These are the little things I need the rest of my life'_

"Okay, Sheldon what do you think?" Penny motioned for Leonard to stop the track and she waited for Sheldon's analysis.

"Well, it seems to me that the woman in this sorry tale is completely unappreciative of everything the man has accomplished. I mean does she know how much a house with a three car garage is likely to cost?" Penny sighed at Sheldon's predictable remarks, and pulled the box onto her lap.

"Sweetie, you're looking at it from the wrong angle. The song is about the woman trying to tell the man that he doesn't have to try so hard to impress her, when all she really wants is for him to show her that he cares."

"Wasn't the big house and the credit cards enough for her? Honestly, I just don't understand you women sometimes." Sheldon looked at the way Penny's face softened as she toyed with the petals of a dried rose in the box. "That flower is dead."

"I know, sweetie, but it's the rose that Leonard left on my car…for no reason apart from the fact that he wanted too. It's the little things that matter most of all in a relationship, Sheldon. It doesn't matter how much money you spend if you can't share that with the person that you care for most in the world. Do you remember how Amy stayed with you for hours when you were trying to decide which games console to buy? She could've just left you in that store and gone home, but she wanted you to be happy so she stayed right by your side until you were ready to make up your mind…four hours of just sitting on the cold, tiled floor just waiting for you."

"She was my ride, she had to wait for me." Sheldon remarked in a matter of fact manner, and winced when Penny hit him on the arm with her cushion.

"You still don't get it do you, Amy waited around for you because she cared more about how you were feeling than how bored she was sitting around doing nothing! For her, the very fact that she was with you, was enough. Leonard, hit play again, but fast forward to the last verse 'cause I think that sums up Sheldon's relationship with Amy to a tee."

_'__And the more that he lives the less that he tries_

_To show her the love that he holds inside_

_And the more that she gives the more that he sees_

_This is a story of you and me…'_

Sheldon listened in silence to the rest of the song, taking everything that Penny had been trying to show him into account. When it was over, he rose up from the couch and walked over to silence the laptop; before handing it back to its rightful owner.

"Excuse me, I'll think I'll have an early night. I have a lot to think about…please show yourselves out when you are ready." He left the two of them sitting in the living room as he walked silently down the hallway and into his bedroom. Penny heard his door shut quietly behind him and looked over at Leonard.

"I think he's finally beginning to see the light." She murmured as she gathered all of her precious memories back into the box. Leonard tucked his laptop under his arm before leaning forward to take the box from her hands; he slowly led her out of Sheldon's apartment and across the hall.

"I hope so, Penny, I really do." He closed the door of Penny's apartment behind them and walked into the bedroom to gently tuck the box back in her closet. Leonard drew her into his arms and pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. "I only hope that Amy gives him a chance to redeem himself."

"I hopes she makes him suffer a little first, boy, the things she said on the way back this afternoon!"

"I can imagine, I felt really bad for her…"

"I know, sweetie." Penny ran her hand through Leonard's tousled dark locks and leant her forehead against his as they felt grateful for the fact that they had finally managed to sort their tangled love life out to be in the happy place that they were now. "Come on, let's go to bed. It's been a long day, and I haven't even told you how my interview went."  
>"Oh yeah, how did your interview go?"<p>

"Terrible, I got the job." Penny deadpanned as she turned down the covers in preparation for the night. "But, I don't want to talk about that right now, I just want to snuggle up next to my cute, but nerdy fiancé and dream about our gorgeous wedding…"

"Sounds like a plan…" Leonard agreed as they slipped beneath the covers and spooned up against each other, secure in the knowledge that their romance was on track for even better things…unfortunately across the hall, Sheldon wasn't feeling so secure as the lyrics from the song kept playing through his mind, again and again until he thought he would go insane…

"Enough with the damned roses!" He shouted out to the empty apartment and rolled over onto his stomach and pressed a pillow over his head, determined to get some sleep. "The three car garage should have been enough to satisfy any sane woman…but no, she wants roses instead…go to sleep, Sheldon. Think soft, warm kitties with pretty fur…that's it…don't think about the roses, just concentrate on the kitties…soft kitty, warm kitty…" He murmured his song over and over until at last it drowned out the other song, letting him slip into sleep only to dream of soft, little kitties playing in a field covered with roses…


	3. Chapter 3

Sheldon was awake all night, working on a solution to fix himself and Amy's faltering romance. Leonard woke up early the next morning when he heard a series of soft knocks on Penny's apartment door. He stumbled out of bed and made his way across the living, flinging the front door open to see an unkempt Sheldon, twitching nervously in the doorway.

"Um…Leonard, would you mind dropping me off downtown on your way into work this morning? I need to make arrangements at the bank to have them issue me a new credit card. The officer's in Arizona arranged for my old ones to be cancelled but I still need to double check that they have followed adequate security protocols." Leonard wanted to say something sarcastic about how this whole conversation could have waited until it wasn't dark outside, but from the look on Sheldon's face, decided to keep his sarcasm to himself.

"Sure, buddy. I'll knock for you around eight, okay?"

"Thank you, Leonard; I will be waiting." Sheldon nodded his thanks and swivelled around on his feet to make his way back into his own apartment. He used the next three hours wisely, firstly by taking another shower and then e-mailing the president of the university informing him that he would be returning back to work the next day. He was sitting quietly in his usual spot on the couch when Leonard knocked on the door, before poking his head around to see if Sheldon was ready to go.

"Sheldon…I wanted to ask….well, if you're short of cash I can lend you some…you know, just until you get your cards back."

"Thank you, Leonard; but as you know I've made it a policy over the years to always keep a little spare change in the nether regions of a certain superhero that will forever remain nameless."

"Ah yes, the Green Lantern funds…" Leonard shook his head as Sheldon shot him a look of surprise. "It's no big secret, Sheldon, everyone knew that you stored your emergency funds in Green Lantern's ass."

"Hmmm, well I took the liberty of emptying it out this morning…I only hope that I have enough to see me through…" Sheldon pulled a wad of fifties out of his windbreaker jacket and flicked through the bundle, Leonard's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he realised exactly how much cash Sheldon was carrying around, carelessly shoved in his pockets.

"Sheldon! That must be at least five thousand you're wafting about…for God's sake, don't let anyone else see you with that kind of cash in your pocket!"

"Eight actually, Leonard. Mmm… let me see, I need to visit the bank, find a new messenger bag, visit the florist…arrange for some chocolates…the jewellers…" Sheldon was muttering to himself as he mentally tallied up the cost of the items he wished to purchase against the cash in his hands. "Leonard, hold this for a moment…I'll be right back." Sheldon shoved the cash into Leonard's hands and raced over to his desk and started rummaging through his bottom drawer. "Ah-hah! I knew I had some more of these somewhere!" He raised his hand, brandishing a bundle of uncashed cheques in the air. "This should do nicely."

"Right, let me make a quick call and I'll be right back." Leonard gulped as he saw some of the amounts written on the cheques that Sheldon was about to cash in; he raced back over to Penny's apartment and sat on the couch to compose himself for a moment before reaching into his pocket to place a call into the university, explaining that he wouldn't be in that day due to an unexpected emergency.  
>"Sweetie? What's the matter, aren't you feeling well?" Penny walked into the living room, tying the belt of her robe around her waist, just as Leonard was speaking with the personnel department.<p>

"I'm fine, Penny. It's Sheldon I'm worried about. Did you know that he had eight thousand dollars stuffed up Green Lantern's ass? He was just going to walk around with all that cash stuffed inside his pocket…he then said it wasn't going to be enough and started pulling out a load of uncashed cheques from his desk…Penny, some of them were for thousands of dollars….I can't let him walk around downtown Pasadena unprotected." Leonard started gasping for breath and Penny rubbed his back as he fought to control his breathing.

"Sweetie, here's what we're going to do…I'm going to get dressed and then we are both going to go with Sheldon downtown…no one's going to mess with my nerdy guys, not if I can help it." Penny flexed her arm and Leonard gave her a peck on the cheek as thanks.

"Penny, why weren't you surprised when I told you how much Sheldon had secreted away in his rainy day fund?" Leonard called into the bedroom as Penny threw on a pair of jeans and a comfortable sweater.

"Do you remember when I couldn't pay my rent that time when Zach wouldn't pay me back the money I paid out on his fines? Well, Sheldon gave me the money out of his jar then…and he just kept pushing more and more into my hands…It was if he was ashamed of having so much and I didn't have any…I thought you guys all knew that he had a little hidden away?"

"A little yeah, but not a frickin' fortune! We were already robbed once, and I get goose bumps when I think about all that cash just lying around waiting to be snatched up." Leonard rubbed his arms and shivered when he thought about what could have happened.

"Sweetie, why do you think Sheldon chose Green Lantern instead of Batman?"

"I don't know, he's always said that he hated the movie, and Batman's way cooler…Oh…"

"Exactly, no robber is gonna want to steal a Green Lantern model, which is exactly why he started storing his money in there." Penny gave Leonard a smacking kiss on the cheek and pulled him out of the apartment. "Now, come on, we've got to go play bodyguard to Sheldon…and maybe help him spend a little of that cash."

"Hmm…does this mean that I'm Whitney or Kevin?"

"Doofus, of course I'm Kevin… Sheldon is Whitney and you're just the other guy in the limo." Penny patted his cheek consolingly as she let herself into Sheldon's apartment, and he leapt to his feet.

"Finally! Leonard, I was beginning to think you had abandoned me; now you will be late for work and I will have to take the bus…"

"Oh no you don't! If you think I'm letting you out of here looking like a walking ATM you are very much mistaken!" Penny grabbed hold of Sheldon's arm and opened up her large shoulder bag. "Empty those pockets, mister. That cash is staying tucked away until we can get you a new wallet and messenger bag. Consider me your own private bodyguard for the day."

"I don't understand…" Sheldon shook his head tiredly, but did as Penny asked; emptying his pockets of the cash and throwing in the cheques on top. Penny zipped the bag closed and slipped it over her shoulder.

"Sweetie, Leonard has taken the day off so that he and I can take you wherever you need to go. I don't feel right letting you go out with all of this cash in your pockets and no one to back you up. Consider us Robin and Batgirl to your Batman." Penny tucked her arm through the crook of Sheldon's elbow and gently steered him out of the apartment and into the stairwell.

"Hmm…I suppose that would work…" Sheldon mused as they walked down the four flights of stairs, Leonard trailing them behind. "There aren't enough of us to form the Justice League and I remember how much you hated Wonder Woman's wig…yes, Batman and his cohorts will do fine."

"Okay, sweetie…" Penny agreed as they made their way over to the resident's parking bays. "Where to first?"

"The bank, please. I need to order new cards and arrange for a new account to be set up. I don't feel that simply cancelling my old cards is enough. I will ask them to set up a new account and transfer my existing funds across. They have assured me that since the officers in Arizona cancelled my cards immediately, any fraudulent spending activity would be credited back to my account within a few days."

"Okay, Robin…To the Batmobile!" At Leonard and Sheldon's amused stares, Penny shot them back a look of her own. "What? You think I haven't picked up on a few things over the last seven years? Batman's car was called the Batmobile, his lair was in the Batcave and he used a fireman's pole to get there from Wayne Manor."

"Oh, Leonard…the bliss, she finally understands…" Sheldon breathed out a happy sigh and got into the passenger seat of the car. Penny slipped into the back and said a quick prayer of thanks for Wikipedia and a ten second history of Batman.

Two hours later, Sheldon finally emerged from the bank; a proud owner of a brand new account and was assured that his new cards would be with him within two days. Penny and Leonard were sitting quietly in the lobby looking at a bridal magazine that Penny had picked up from the newsagents next door.  
>"Hey, Shellybean! Ready to move on?" Penny closed the magazine and rose up to greet Sheldon.<p>

"I was wondering whether…" Sheldon started to speak and then faltered a little…"Whether the two of you would care to accompany me to a café where I might treat you to breakfast? I was too anxious to eat anything this morning, and I must admit to being famished right now."

"That would be lovely, Sheldon. Thank you." Penny hooked her arm through Leonard's and gave him a slight jab with her elbow when he didn't say anything.

"Ouch! Um…yeah, sounds great, buddy."

"It's no problem, I realise now that I must have disturbed you ridiculously early this morning, and for that I apologise." Sheldon stated as they took their seats in a small café and waited for their order to arrive. "I didn't sleep at all well last night, and I didn't realise the time when I pounded on your door."

"Sheldon, it's okay buddy. We realise that you have a lot on your mind, and we're here to help get you through this…whatever you need." Leonard patted Sheldon lightly on the arm and for perhaps only the second time in their acquaintance Sheldon didn't jerk himself away.

"I have come up with a plan to win Amy's affections back and I wanted to run it past you both before proceeding. I am so far out of my comfort zone that I don't know which way is up and which is down…that little vixen has me so confused that I almost wore my Wednesday pyjamas on a Tuesday!" Sheldon pressed his lean  
>fingers against his eyes and rubbed hard. "I need help, and I didn't know where else to turn…"<p>

"Shellybean…it's like Leonard already said, we're here for you…whatever you need." Penny reached across the table to place her hand lightly over Sheldon's and felt tears prick behind her eyelids as he gently turned his hand over to lightly curl his hand around hers to give her a gentle squeeze.

"I want to romance the socks off that little lady, and this is what I had in mind…" Sheldon lowered his voice and began to recite his grand plan. By the time he had finished, both Penny and Leonard were near to tears. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think…I think that if I wasn't an engaged woman hopelessly in love with her cute but geeky fiancé, I would come over there and give you a huge sloppy kiss…" Penny wiped her eyes and smiled over at Sheldon with a wink. "Honestly, Sheldon that was amazing and Amy would be a fool not to have you in her life if you do all that for her."

"I think…who are you and what have you done with Sheldon?" Leonard remarked, shaking his head in amazement. "Honestly, buddy – I'm waiting for the bazinga any moment."

"No bazinga this time, Leonard. I am deadly serious about all of this." Sheldon gave them both a faint smile. "Now, I still have a lot of preparations to get on with. Might I suggest that we split up? Leonard, if you could take care of purchasing me a new messenger bag and wallet I would be most appreciative…here's a couple of hundred."

"That's too much, Sheldon." Leonard protested as Sheldon passed across a handful of crumpled bills.

"Get me something halfway decent and you can treat yourself to a t-shirt on me." Sheldon waved away his protest and shooed him out of his seat. "Meet us back here in a couple of hours, I need Penny's help in picking out something nice to wear tomorrow night."

"Yay! I finally get to play dress up with Sheldon! Go on, scram Leonard, we're burnin' daylight!" Penny grabbed her bag from the floor and went to rise up from the table, Sheldon's hand on her arm stopped her in her tracks. Sheldon swallowed hard and Penny could see the slight beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

"I'd like your help with something else, Penny; but you must promise to keep this between ourselves."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear." Sheldon confirmed and raised his right pinky up to hook around Penny's. He rose up so that he could whisper his request in her ear and Penny drew back in surprise, batting her eyelashes quickly and found that she had to sit back down before she fell down.

"Are you sure that you're ready for that, Sheldon?" She asked weakly, taking a large swallow of water from the glass on the table.

"I have never been more certain of anything in my life." Sheldon replied quietly and took her hand to lead her out of the café. "I hope that I didn't offend you with my request, it's just that I know that you probably have more experience in this area than Leonard, and I knew that you wouldn't laugh at me."

"Oh, sweetie; I wouldn't do that to you…and no, I'm not offended in the slightest. I'm honoured that you picked me for your first time."

"Penny!" Sheldon looked around with an expression of shock on his face, what exactly did she think he was asking her to do? Penny winked over at him and leant up to whisper in his ear;

"Bazinga!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Sheldon, are you certain that you want to do it this way?" Penny looked over at him with a look of concern on her face. "Do you even realise how much the delivery alone will be?"

"Why do you think I went in and cashed all of those pay cheques? No, this is the way that I want things done." Sheldon signed the appropriate forms and slapped down the bundle of cash on the counter.

"Very well, Doctor Cooper. We'll take care of everything for you tomorrow; don't forget that we close at seven o'clock."

"Impossible, I have an eidetic memory." Sheldon tapped the side of his head as he and Penny left the store and headed over to the next one on the list. "I need something nice for tomorrow night…I was thinking something along the lines of the suit I wore to the awards ceremony a few years ago…but maybe with a black shirt and grey tie?"

"Mmm…what about a charcoal shirt and black tie to match the suit?"

"Penny, I don't have the suit…I lost the trousers and managed to vomit all over the jacket. I need everything from top to bottom." Sheldon dragged Penny into the nearest men's outfitters and started rifling through the suits on display. "No…no…no…This one is nice, it's not charcoal or grey though." Sheldon pulled out a deep electric blue shirt and held it up for inspection; the shirt matched his eyes perfectly and Penny nodded her approval.

"Very nice; now all we need is the suit and tie to go with it. How about this one?" Penny held out a black suit with thin charcoal pinstripes. Sheldon wrinkled his nose a little and shook his head.

"It's nice, but I think it would remind Amy of David Tennant's portrayal of Doctor Who…and I would rather prefer her attention remain fixed on me…Now this one has definite potential." Sheldon pulled out another suit, this one consisting of a waistcoat, single breasted jacket and slim line trousers; all in unrelieved black.

"Go ahead, try it all on and I'll look around for a tie; a nice narrow one would work well with that suit." Penny nudged him toward the changing room and carried on looking for a tie. She finally found one that she deemed suitable and also picked up another two shirts; one in a dark maroon and the other in a very pale blue, both would match the suit and tie perfectly. She turned around just as Sheldon emerged from the changing room. "Wow, Sheldon – you look amazing! That suit would work just as well if you wore it without the waistcoat or tie and just left the top button undone…" Penny walked over and undid the button on the waistcoat as well as flicking open the top button on his collar.

"Hmm…yes, two different looks but with the same suit." Sheldon turned from side to side in the mirror; looking at his image from all angles. "I'll take it!" He decided finally and slipped out of the jacket, folding it carefully over his arm.

"Here, add these shirts as well; you can have a little mix and match session." Penny thrust the shirts into his arms and Sheldon strode back inside the changing room to hang his suit back on the hanger before changing back into his street clothes. He gathered the suit hangers and shirts together and went up to the cashier's desk to pay. Accepting his change with a brief smile of thanks, Sheldon picked up his bags and went in search of Penny.

"Where next?"

"I need a haircut; I was thinking of changing my style a little…what do you think?" Penny closed one eye as she pulled Sheldon's hair away from his side parting and swept it back from his forehead instead.

"Hmm…maybe a little trim and some gel; I don't think you should mess with your image too much, Amy seems to like you just the way you are."

"I put myself entirely in your hands, Penny." Sheldon decided and Penny grinned as she led him into the same barber that Leonard used. Thirty minutes later, they emerged from the store and Sheldon kept twisting his head this way and that as they walked along the street.

"I don't know…it all seems a little punk rocker to me." Sheldon stopped again and looked at the way the barber had spiked his hair up a little rather than pressing it flat against his forehead the way he was used to.

"We can play about with it a bit later, smooth it down a bit or use less gel. Don't worry Sheldon, by the time tomorrow night comes around, we'll have you looking your best."

"Don't forget that Amy wouldn't like me to be what she refers to as 'sex on a stick'. Don't make me look too hot, one woman is all I can handle." Sheldon remarked drolly and Penny nudged his arm, waiting for the bazinga – when nothing emerged, she chuckled as she realised he was completely serious.

"Okay, we need to meet Leonard shortly…what's left?"

"One more stop and then we're done…I just don't know whether this is something I need to do on my own." Sheldon looked a little nervous, and Penny patted his arm.

"Sheldon, we talked about this already…I'm here as an observer only; I'll give you a hint if I think something is wildly inappropriate, but you know Amy best of all…she will love it whatever you choose."

"Okay, let's do this."

"The only thing I'm gonna say is…no tiara this time, alright?"

"Agreed." Taking a deep breath, Sheldon walked into the store and started looking around.

"Good afternoon, sir, may I help you with anything in particular?" A well groomed middle aged gentleman approached Sheldon from behind the counter and Sheldon opened his mouth to speak only to find himself without the adequate words; he sent a look of desperate appeal over to Penny, who walked over to join him.

"He's looking for something that says 'I was a complete ass, please forgive me.'" She said bluntly and walked away again to look at a display of jewelled hair clips; wondering whether she should grow her hair again for her wedding.

"Ah…necklace, bracelet, a ring perhaps?"

"Umm…a ring?" Penny heard Sheldon's hesitant request and whirled around…this was something she definitely wasn't expecting to hear falling from Sheldon's lips.

"Sheldon!"

"It's okay Penny, I know what I'm doing. Go ahead and find Leonard, I'll be along presently." Sheldon didn't look up from the tray of rings he was examining; shaking his head over the diamond and ruby bands on display. "I was thinking of something with emeralds…to match her eyes." Penny left him searching for the perfect ring and almost ran headfirst into Leonard who was making his way back to the café.

"Whoa! Where's Sheldon?"

"In there…" Penny pointed in the jeweller's window. "Leonard, he's buying her a ring! I thought he was only kidding me earlier...but he's buying her a ring! He's looking for something with emeralds in; because he wants it to match her eyes…What if she says no?"

"Then she says no…how do you know he's looking at engagement rings anyway? Knowing Sheldon, he's just buying her a pretty little trinket to keep him on her good side."

"I don't think so, not with everything else he has planned for tomorrow." Penny filled Leonard in on Sheldon's grand plan and even he was impressed at how romantic it seemed. "Look, here he comes and he has a little gift bag with him…Oh, I think I'm gonna cry!"

"Pull yourself together, Penny. I'm all done here so I am ready to go home now if you are." Sheldon reached Leonard and Penny, handing over the little gift bag to Penny. "Here's a little something for you, just to say thank you for today."

"Sheldon…I don't know what to say…"

"Thank you would be good." Leonard prompted with a little smile. He'd caught sight of Sheldon tucking another little box inside one of his bags containing his new shirts and decided that if Sheldon wanted to tell them his plans, he would have done so already. Penny flicked open the lid of the box to see the little jewelled combs that she had been admiring in the display case.

"Brace yourself, Sheldon, because I'm about to hug you." Penny warned with a tear sparkling on her eyelashes. Sheldon winced a little, but refrained from flinching as she threw her arms around him and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered against his ear and Sheldon gave her a slight glimmer of a smile as she stepped away. "Come on guys, let's go home and see if we can't do something to sort out Sheldon's hair."

"Thank God! I thought I was the only one too polite to say anything. What on earth happened in the barbers? Did you say make me look like an older version of Zac Efron? 'Cause if you did, I hate to tell you but you were robbed." Leonard ran his fingers through Sheldon's spiky new 'do and grimaced at the amount of product that was left on his fingers.

"I'll wash it out in the shower later. Leonard, would you be able to take me into work with you in the morning? I need to speak with Siebert about my new field of study and he's set me up with a meeting with Mrs. Davis first thing."

"Sure, buddy. Will you be there all day?"

"Hmm…probably, I need to clear my office out to make room for whoever gets it next…it's doubtful they will let me keep it after everything that's happened."

"Well, your name's still on the door…so it's still your office." Leonard stated, he'd heard rumours about the proposal that Siebert was going to offer Sheldon, but he had his doubts whether Sheldon would be willing compromise on the matter; time alone would tell.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Amy stumbled out of bed when a persistent knocking on her apartment door woke her a full thirty minutes early; she pulled on a robe and blearing peered through the peephole. An equally tired looking delivery driver was standing in the hallway holding a clipboard in his hands.

"Yes, can I help?" Amy left the security chain in place as she opened the door just wide enough to check that she wasn't about to be robbed at gunpoint. "You do realise that it's barely seven o'clock in the morning?"  
>"Are you…" The driver checked his records for her name before looking back up; "…Amy Farrah Fowler?"<p>

"Yes, I'm Dr. Fowler."

"I have a delivery for you," Amy closed the door enough to slip the chain off so that she could open the door fully. The driver gave a huge yawn and then apologise profusely. "Sorry about that, I don't normally start my deliveries this early; but my boss said this was a special requirement and that I had to be at your door at seven on the dot." The driver handed over a single perfect, pink in a tiny crystal vase. "Here you go Dr. Fowler, have a nice day."

"Wait! There's no card!" Amy accepted the rose and called out just as the driver was walking away…He checked his clipboard again and shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't have a name listed. I guess they thought you wouldn't need one."

"Oh, I see…well thanks anyway." Amy stepped back inside her apartment and shut the door. She placed the crystal vase on her desk where she stood admiring it for a little while; in her heart she wanted it to be from Sheldon, but she knew that he would never be the type to send her flowers – he didn't even hold open the door for her, despite the fact that he boasted he was raised to be a gentleman. Amy glanced up at the clock and saw that it was now seven fifteen, it was useless going back to bed and so she decided to grab an early shower instead.

Amy had just sat down to eat a bowl of muesli when there was another knock on her apartment door; she glanced at the clock and saw that it was just eight o'clock. It wasn't unusual for her neighbour, Kimberley to pop round to beg a cup of milk if she had forgotten to buy groceries again; in some ways it reminded her a lot of the way Penny would raid Sheldon's refrigerator for milk instead of buying her own. Amy set down her spoon and crossed over to press her eye against the peephole. To her surprise she saw the same delivery driver as earlier standing outside her door. She pulled it open with a slight smile.

"Hello again, did you forget something earlier?"

"No…I have another delivery for you." The driver passed across another pale pink rose in its own vase, exactly the same as earlier. "Someone must really like you; that's real Swarovski crystal."

"Oh my!" Amy examined the vase carefully, noticing how the light refracted off the delicate etchings.

"Still don't have a clue who might have sent them?" The driver asked as he propped himself against the doorframe and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Not a single one…my boyfriend is quite incapable of making such a romantic gesture, especially as we might possibly be on the brink of terminating our relationship this very evening."

"Well it looks as though you might just have yourself a secret admirer then. Good luck." The driver gave her a little smile and walked jauntily off down the corridor as Amy closed the door behind him. As he reached the elevator he happened to glance down, checking to see where his next delivery was…0900 hrs…CalTech university, to be delivered to – Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler… "Jeez, this guy must be loaded; those vases go for a hundred bucks a pop." He shook his head as he thought about how much money the sap had laid out already that morning. "He musta paid big bucks to get Dave agree to two early deliveries…another two hundred for the vases…then there are the roses; another delivery at nine…I hope she's worth it."

Amy ended up throwing her mushy breakfast down the disposal, having spent far too long admiring her pretty flowers. She decided to head over to the university early, if Sheldon was going was to be coming over for Date night she could always cut out early to prepare. She grabbed a muffin from the breadbin and started munching on it as she collected her briefcase on her way out of the door.

Across town at 2311 Los Robles Avenue, Sheldon was finishing up an emergency summit meeting; he'd arranged for Howard, Bernadette, Raj, Emily, Leonard and Penny to meet in his apartment for breakfast and they were now all looking at him with a mixture of fascination and shock.

"That's an awful lot of work for a simple apology, Sheldon. I guess a card and box of chocolates wouldn't have done the same job?" Howard earned himself a poke in the ribs from his steely eyed wife, if her stare could act as a laser he'd be a dead man right now.

"Howie, unless you want to lose all bedroom privileges for the next month; I suggest you keep your trap shut and your ears open." Bernadette growled at him, and then turned to Sheldon and carried on in her normal sweet tone. "Sheldon, it sounds wonderful and we would be happy to help, isn't that right, Howard?"

"Yeah, what she said." Howard muttered, "What's the logistics of this thing anyway? Do we have to go over and collect or will they be delivered individually?"

"I'm having them delivered to my office just before ten o'clock. Let's see, she would have already had the first two by now, another at nine – that leaves another eight to be delivered throughout the day." Sheldon scribbled on his notepad and tapped his finger against his chin thoughtfully. "I've got someone in mind for two…yes, that will work out perfectly. Each of you will be required to deliver one of the items to Amy's lab with a note sealed in an envelope; you will instruct Amy not to open the notes until six o'clock this evening. I will leave it up to you to decide who goes first…"

"It will be like a mini scavenger hunt!" Raj exclaimed with a grin, and hugged Emily to his side. "I love it, Sheldon!"

"I'll take the ten o'clock one, I've got meetings all afternoon so that's the only time I'm free." Bernadette added her name to Sheldon's list.

"Yeah, I've got an audition this afternoon so I'll take the eleven o'clock." Penny scratched her name under Bernadette's and saw that Sheldon had already ticked off the twelve and one o'clock slots. The others all chose their slots and Sheldon closed the pad with a snap.

"Okay, let's get this thing started! I'll see everyone a few minutes before you're allotted time…Leonard, we need to get a move on; I have a meeting with Siebert at nine fifteen and it's already half past eight."

"Alright Sheldon, see you later guys. Help yourself to whatever's left over." Leonard grabbed his bag and gave Penny a quick kiss goodbye leaving her to tidy away the leftovers and close up the apartment behind them. He and Sheldon walked down the stairs and as they got into the car he looked over to see Sheldon clutching his new messenger bag in a tight grip.

"You okay, buddy? Feeling a little nervous about tonight?"

"Not at all, Leonard. I'm just worried that Siebert won't listen to reason and I was just thinking about what blackmail methods I could use against him to make him see sense."

"Don't worry, Sheldon; everything has a way of working out for the best." Leonard smiled a little at Sheldon's obvious prevarication.

"You know something don't you? What have you heard? Dear Lord, he's going to fire me isn't he?" Sheldon started twitching in the passenger seat and Leonard glanced over with a reassuring grin.

"Trust me, Sheldon. Siebert's not going to fire you…quite the opposite really. I don't want to give too much away, but I think you might like what he has in mind for you."

"Preposterous! You people are sick! You want to promote me to Junior Professor and give lectures to a bunch of snot nosed grad students just so that I can be allowed to move over to study Dark Matter!" President Siebert linked his fingers together as he watched Sheldon pace up and down the confines of his office and waited for the man to calm down. Their meeting wasn't supposed to take place until nine-fifteen but Sheldon had burst through the door a full half hour early; and Siebert had been watching him wear a hole in his carpet for the past ten minutes

"Doctor Cooper, we have no intention of losing you to another University – I thought you might be happy that I've granted you permission to move on from String Theory; I didn't have to you know, I could have easily gone back to my earlier decision that your appointment and grant money was specifically dedicated to String Theory…"

"Pshaw!" Sheldon waved his hand in the air. "This sounds like a rehash of exactly the same conversation we had in this very room before I took my sabbatical." Suddenly Sheldon stopped pacing and leant over the desk. "How desperately do you wish me to stay on at the University?"  
>"Well, Doctor Cooper; enough that I am willing to not only promote you but transfer your tenured position over to your new field; surely that tells you all that you need to know?" Siebert was a little confused, he was offering Sheldon the chance that he said that he wanted and yet somehow the good Doctor didn't seem a bit pleased with the proposition.<p>

"I'll do it, under one condition…"

"Yes…?"

"You have to do me a tiny, little favour first…" Sheldon leant closer to the desk and pushed across a small pale pink envelope. "Don't open that! Meet me in my office at ten minutes to twelve, and don't be late!" Leaving Siebert to examine the small envelope Sheldon strolled jauntily along the hallway and made his way over to the cafeteria to carry out the next part of his plan.

"Delivery for Doctor Fowler." A familiar sounding voice took Amy's attention away from her notes and she looked up to see the same delivery driver as before standing in the doorway of her lab.

"We must stop meeting like this." Amy joked as she made her way over to the door. "People will start to talk, a strange man bringing me flowers at work, are you sure you're not my admirer?"

"On my pay? Besides I think my Betty might have a little something to say about that." The driver winked over at Amy and flashed the worn gold band on his left hand. "They sure are pretty though, aren't they?"

"Very pretty." Amy agreed as she took the rose from the driver's hand and admired it with a smile.

"My name's Arnie," The driver offered his hand and Amy set the rose down on her bench so that she could shake it. "I thought I'd better introduce myself, as it looks like we're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the future."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Doctor Fowler…I happen to know that whoever ordered these flowers asked for a full dozen. The first three you've been sent at precisely one hour intervals…so by my estimates I'll be making another delivery in about fifty five minutes. Oh, I nearly forgot!" Arnie pulled out a small pink envelope and presented it with a little flourish. "There was a card with this one, but the boss said that the purchaser requested that you not open it until six o'clock this evening."

"How strange." Amy remarked as she turned the envelope over in her hands to examine the outer surface. There was no writing on the outside to give her any indication of the sender and her natural curiosity was aroused.

"Catch you later, Doc!" Arnie gave a little wave and disappeared down the corridor.


	6. Chapter 6

Sheldon looked up as a knock on his office door indicated that he had a visitor. "Enter!" He called out and Arnie poked his head around the door.

"Doctor Cooper? I'm Arnie from the florist; I've got the rest of your delivery here. Where do you want me to set them down?"

"Over on the side table please." Sheldon looked at the array of individual roses perched in their own tiny vases. "Oh, they did turn out well, didn't they? Tell me, how did Doctor Fowler find them? Do you think she was pleased?"

"She seemed happy enough, a little confused over who might be sending them…"

"Really? I would have thought that might have been obvious; we have been dating exclusively for over three years now…" Sheldon was puzzled, how could Amy not have realised it was him sending the flowers? Did she really think that he was that incapable of showing her how much she meant to him?

"Ahh, you're the boyfriend! Yeah, she mentioned you this morning. She seems to think that you wouldn't have come up with something like this…do you know my Betty was exactly the same when we started going out? It took me nearly four years to get around to asking her to marry me, she just kept changing the subject every time I brought it up in conversation. In the end I took her back to where we had our first date and proposed in the middle of the dance floor…best night of my life." Arnie brushed away a tear from his eye and coughed a little to clear his throat. "Well, I'd best be off…I hope everything goes well for you and your lady, she seems like a real sweet gal."

"Yes, thank you again." Sheldon murmured distractedly from where he was pondering over what Arnie had said, what if he was doing the whole thing all wrong? Should he have arranged to take Amy somewhere special for their Date night? He crossed over to his desk and rested his head on the work surface muttering under his breath. That is how Bernadette found him a few moments later.

"Sheldon, honey, what's the matter?" Bernadette immediately crossed over to kneel in front of Sheldon's chair and grasped his hand.

"Bernadette, I…I…everything's all wrong!" Sheldon looked up at Bernadette with a look of sheer panic in his eyes. "She doesn't think I am capable of showing my feelings; she told Arnie that I couldn't have possibly thought of something like this on my own! What am I going to do?"

"Sheldon, you're going to look straight into my eyes and just breathe…that's it…in…and out…" Bernadette coached him to breathe calmly and steadily. "Okay, show me your hands." Sheldon held out his hands and felt them trembling in her tiny grasp. "A little shaky, but that's to be expected. Feeling better?"

"A little…" Sheldon nodded and caught sight of the clock on the wall, noticing that it was a few minutes to ten o'clock. He rose up from his chair and crossed over to pick up one of the delicate vases and placed it in Bernadette's hands. He plucked one of the envelopes at random from the stack on his desk and slipped it into her cardigan pocket. "Now remember, she's not to open it until six o'clock…not that it would do any good as it's an anagram; she does love a good puzzle. Now, scoot outta here and let a man get back to work." Sheldon gently nudged her out of the door and watched as Bernadette hustled over in the direction of Amy's lab.

"Special delivery!" Bernadette's perky voice roused Amy from where she was looking at slides of a capuchin brain stem under her microscope.

"Bernadette! What brings you over to the seedy side of town?" Amy pushed back from the bench and looked over at the bubbly blonde. Bernadette drew the rose from behind her back and set it down on the bench; holding up a hand at Amy's questions.

"I have a strict don't ask, don't tell policy; so cannot answer any questions relating to the sender's identity. I also have this for you too…" Bernadette slipped the envelope under the edge of the vase and reached over to grasp Amy's hand. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry if I didn't spend a lot of time with you while Sheldon was away; I know how much you must have missed him and I feel bad for skipping out on so many of our girlie nights. I don't have any excuses and I hope that you can accept my apology."

"Bernie! Don't be silly! I know that you and Howard have finally managed to get time together alone, and I think it's great that Stuart was able to help with the situation at home; I don't blame you for wanting to spend time with your husband." Amy stood up and pulled Bernadette into a hug, which Bernadette returned with a kiss to Amy's cheek.

"Thank you, Amy. Now, I've gotta run, I've got a whole mess of meetings this afternoon and I'm already behind. I'll see you soon, okay?" Bernadette pulled away and checked the time on her phone. Amy gave her a little wave goodbye and turned back to look at the two vases sitting side by side on the bench.

"Cooper; I heard you were back from your travels and thought I'd pop in to see whether the rumours were true." Kripke barged into Sheldon's office without knocking and straddled the visitors chair in front of the desk.

"Rumours, Kripke? You know I don't subscribe to the hot bed of gossip that runs rampant along these halls." Sheldon didn't look up from where he was sorting through his old text books and setting them in piles on the desk; one for storage, one for discard and one for taking with him.

"That you got fired, given the push, kicked out of the brownies…"

"Completely fabricated, I assure you." Sheldon replied, frowning over one of his older textbooks. "Hmm…do you want this one? I was going to keep it for posterity's sake, but I changed my mind."

"Sure, I'll take it off your hands." Kripke leant over to accept the offering and puzzled over the gift. "So, if you're not leaving, what are you doing packing away your textbooks?"

"Oh, I've been promoted and won't need all of these books in my new field of study." Sheldon remarked in an offhand manner and Kripke nearly fell off his chair.

"Get outta here!"

"Why? This is still my office." Sheldon looked over at Kripke with puzzlement, Kripke spluttered with laughter and shook his head.

"It never ceases to amaze me that with a mind like yours, you still don't get urban vernacular or slang. I meant it as 'I don't believe it'. Siebert really promoted you after the stunt you pulled?"

"Yes, Kripke, Siebert really promoted me. I already said as much, didn't I?" Sheldon looked up as there was a brief knock on the door before Penny stuck her head around the corner.

"Hey Sheldon…I know I'm a little early but I thought we could hang out a little before I do the thing."

"Well, heelloooo." Kripke swung his leg over the chair and strolled over to lean against the doorframe, blatantly giving Penny the eye.

"Hi." Penny said reluctantly and edged a little closer to Sheldon's desk.

"The name's Kripke, Barry Kripke."

"You're Kripke? That lowlife that spread all those rumours about Amy? I ought to hogtie you and leave you outside for the pigs!" Penny blustered at him and turned to Sheldon. "You want me to get rid of him for you? No one would ever have to know…"

"Thank you for the offer, Penny, but it's not necessary."

"We've met before you know, you were wearing this hot little black number…it was when Cooper, Hofstadter and I were all in line for a tenured post."

"Sorry, don't remember." Penny said shortly and edged even closer to Sheldon.

"Hoo…Cooper's got himself a new girlfriend! Finally traded in the lab rat for a newer model!" Kripke gave Sheldon the thumbs up and missed the look of blazing fury that lit up Sheldon's eyes before he found his shirt being clenched in the tight grasp of one very angry Texan.

"You watch your tone when you speak about ma woman, Kripke; else it won't be the gal that takes ya outside…need I remind you that I was born and raised in Texas?" Sheldon growled as he tightened his grip on Kripke's shirt and only Penny patting his arm made him release the other man.

"Sweetie, calm down. Look at the time…" Penny pointed at the clock and Sheldon saw that it was nearly eleven.

"Thank you for reminding me that I am first and foremost a gentleman." Sheldon stepped away from Kripke and then turned back to face him. "You and me ain't finished with this conversation, no not by a long shot. Sit your butt down in that chair and I'll get back to you in a minute." Sheldon pointed to the visitor chair again and Kripke swallowed hard at the barely contained fury in Sheldon's mannerism. He sat down and watched in silence as Sheldon handed Penny a pale pink rose in a tiny vase, along with a small envelope. Penny took the items and left the office with a smile for Sheldon and a growl at Kripke.

"Now, you've insulted my woman to my face…but I have the perfect solution for how you can make it up to me…" Sheldon lowered his voice in a threatening manner and Kripke found himself agreeing to whatever Sheldon suggested.


	7. Chapter 7

"Knock, knock! Anyone home?" Penny rapped on the doorframe of Amy's lab and gingerly stepped inside. She hated visiting Amy at work and made sure that there were no icky, squishy things on display before she stepped fully forward.

"Bestie! This is a nice surprise! I haven't heard from you in a while, how's it hangin'?" Amy looked up from where she was entering her observations on her daily report and grinned widely over at her best friend.

"Oh, good…good…busy with the wedding and everything…but good…I have a little something for you." Penny held out the rose and Amy carefully placed it on the bench next to the others. "Getting quite a collection there, Ames…something you wanna share?"

"Nothing to share, no card, no clue. Although with the last two deliveries there were these little envelopes…the driver said specifically not to open them until six o'clock. I don't suppose you have another one for me?"

"Well lookie here, what do you know? I do believe that I do happen to have one of those little things upon my person." Penny pulled out the envelope from her purse and slid it across the bench. "Come on Amy, aren't you the least bit curious?"

"I am…but I am trying to resist the urge to rip those envelopes apart. Can't you just tell me who is sending them and what's inside?"

"Well, I could tell you who was sending them…but that would ruin the surprise completely. As to the envelopes…don't have a clue." Penny shrugged and gently moved the three envelopes closer together. "These envelopes could contain the sender's identity…what's that phrase that Leonard's always quoting from Star Trek? Something to do with the Borg I think…"

"Resistance is futile…" Amy murmured softly as her fingers traced over the edges of the envelopes.

"Yeah, that's the one! Yay, I actually got the series right! Oh My God! I'm turning into Leonard!" Penny gasped in mock horror and Amy grinned over at her.

"What the heck! Let's rip these babies open!" Amy pulled the envelopes open and spread the pink edged cards across the bench. "Mmm…" She muttered as she moved them around, rearranging them slightly and then moved them again.

"What the…?" Penny leant over her shoulder to take a look for herself and frowned as she saw that each card contained only a single letter.

"It's an anagram…we have an 'a', an 'r' and an 'e'…"

"That's a word… 'are'! Yay, I solved it!"

"Penny, the driver stated earlier that I could expect a full dozen of these roses; the first two did not contain any letters, only the last three…so on that presumption we would be looking for a word or a phrase made up of nine letters."

"What if it were a baker's dozen? That would make it thirteen roses; giving ten letters in total." Penny suggested and Amy shook her head.

"No, bestie, flowers are sold in dozens containing only twelve blooms." The two of them bent over the cards again, and the sound of someone clearing their throat had them looking over to the doorway.

"President Siebert? It's unusual to see you down this end of the university…is there something you wished to discuss with me?" Amy straightened up from her bench, taking a quick look at the clock. It was precisely midday and her eyes widened…surely it couldn't?

"Doctor Fowler…here…don't ask me who sent it…" Siebert thrust the vase into her hand and passed across the envelope. "He asked me to tell you not to open it, but I assume from the stray envelopes floating across your workbench that your natural curiosity has already had you open the rest. Good day to you both." Siebert nearly ran out of the laboratory, cursing Sheldon Cooper in his head…he was the President of a well-respected institute of higher learning and Cooper had him running around the place acting like a delivery boy. Never again!

Amy tore into the envelope and it revealed the letter 'y'. "Hmm…a, r, y, and e. 'Curiouser and curiouser' as Alice in Wonderland might say."

"Well, I'd love to stay and help you figure it out; but I have an audition across town in an hour so I'd better get a move on."  
>"I thought you were taking the job at Bernadette's company?" Amy questioned with a frown and Penny grinned.<p>

"I am…but it pays to keep my options open. See you later, Ames!"

"Yeah, see you bestie." Amy replied with a wave and turned her attention back to the cards spread out on her bench. "Mmm…ray…rye…ear…" She muttered as she swapped the cards over in front of her. "Stop it, Amy! You're a neurobiologist and you have work to do!" Amy swept the cards up into a neat little pile and tried to ignore them as she made herself go back to her data entry; plugging away until the rumble in her stomach made her aware that a plain bagel was no substitute for a hearty breakfast. She saved her data and locked the computer before grabbing her purse from the hook near the door.

Entering the cafeteria, she waved over to where Raj, Howard and Leonard were sitting on their usual table. Leonard pointed at the empty seat and Amy nodded as she joined the line at the counter.

"Here you go, Doctor Fowler. Someone came in to order you a special plate for today." Dorie, the cafeteria manager, passed a tray over the counter and Amy looked down to see a shrimp salad and large brownie on the tray; tucked under the brownie plate was a small pink envelope.

"Umm…thank you. I don't suppose you'd care to share the identity of the mystery man?"

"Sorry, Doctor Fowler; but I'm under strict instructions not to reveal his secret identity." Dorie said with a wink, "There might be a clue in that little envelope he dropped off earlier." Amy smiled faintly as she carried the tray over to join the guys.

"No Sheldon today?" She asked as she placed her purse carefully on the back of her chair.

"Uh…no, he's tied up in a meeting with Siebert…from the sounds of things, it's going to be going on all afternoon." Leonard stated quickly, not wanting Amy to know that Sheldon had requested a tray in his office; wanting to stay within the sight of the roses at all times.

"Ooh,brownies!" Raj admired the gooey treat on Amy's tray and then frowned. "How come I didn't see any brownies when we were at the counter?"

"Apparently they are from my secret admirer…Dorie said there might be a clue in the envelope." Amy pulled the envelope out from under the tray and slid the card out. "Hmm… 'these remind me of you'. That's odd; they are nothing like the other notes at all. They were just random letters, this doesn't seem related in the slightest."

"Ooh, an anagram! I love puzzles!" Raj clapped his hands together in glee and restrained himself when Howard kicked him lightly under the table and sent him a warning look, reminding him not to get too carried away.

"Oh for the love of God and all that is Holy!" Leonard muttered as he saw who Sheldon had roped in for the one o'clock special. Barry Kripke had just entered the cafeteria and was making a beeline for their table carrying the rose and another note.

"Please tell me that I am seeing things…" Amy whispered to Leonard, and he reached across the table to pat her hand.

"Don't worry, I can safely say that your secret admirer is definitely not Barry Kripke!"

"Hey, loser! I'm the one with the flower! Let me do my thing!" Kripke handed over the rose and note and knelt down on the floor at Amy's feet, cursing under his breath at Sheldon for making him do this. "Doctor Fowler, it has been brought to my attention by a number of people that I have acted atrociously toward you in the past. The spreading of rumours that were, I might add, completely unfounded… so I would ask that you accept my sincere apologies for any besmirching of your character." Kripke rose to his feet and sauntered out of the cafeteria as if the past two minutes had never happened. Unknown to him, Sheldon had been sitting behind a potted plant in the far corner and had captured it all on video. "Now that's a Youtube upload if ever I saw one." He smiled in wicked glee and exited before anyone could see him.

Amy set the rose down in the centre of the table and pulled open the envelope. It was an 'm' this time, and she put it together with the rest of the letters. "So, I've now got an m, r, a, e and y. Not much to go on really." She slid the card into her purse and turned her attention to her lunch, there was something tugging at the back of her memory about the contents of her plate but she couldn't quite place it… As she turned her head she missed the glances exchanged by the guys, and the grins on their faces…Sheldon may not have explained his whole plan in great detail, but each of them had heard a little from Penny and a little from Leonard and they were all pretty certain of how things were likely to play out.

"So, anything exciting happen in the world of Capuchin brains this morning, Amy?" Howard asked, trying to pick a topic of conversation that would steer everyone away from the mystery admirer.

"Not really, I found it harder to concentrate with all of my unexpected visitors."

"Oh, yeah? Who came to see you?"  
>"First I was woken up at seven by a delivery from the florist, then another at eight made me miss my breakfast. The same driver appeared in my lab at nine, then there was Penny, Bernadette, President Siebert and now Kripke…this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Amy pushed her salad around on her plate, not really eating anything just forking random pieces of shrimp from side to side. "Then there's this lunch…something about it is bugging me, but I can't lay my finger on what it is." Howard hid a grin, he knew exactly what was going on with lunch; Sheldon had tried to recreate the Valentine's dinner from their trip to Napa Valley. Amy had ordered the shrimp salad that evening, and they had all finished the meal with a brownie for dessert. It was also the night of their first real kiss, and from what he'd heard from Leonard; Sheldon had remarked that Amy's lips had tasted of brownies…<p>

"I think it's about to get a whole lot weirder." Leonard remarked as he noticed Raj bending down to fetch a small item that he'd been concealing under the table.

"Amy, I'd like you to know that I've always admired your unique sense of style; and I'm sorry if I've ever pushed you into buying anything you've felt uncomfortable with." Raj handed over the two o'clock offering with a melting smile and Amy accepted the rose and placed it next to the other on the table.

"It's not you is it Raj?"

"No my dear…all will be revealed with the last rose…until then my sweet, here is another clue." Raj slipped the envelope into her hand and got up from the table. He'd taken longer than expected at lunch just to see who Sheldon had lined up for the one o'clock delivery and then had hung around to make his own presentation. "Later, dudes…Amy." Raj bowed slightly and left the cafeteria. Amy opened the envelope with Howard and Leonard peering over her shoulder.

"Well? What's the letter?"  
>"Another 'a'." Amy announced and Leonard scratched the letters onto his napkin and frowned. He had assumed that Sheldon's original plan was to simply spell out his intentions one letter at a time, but it seemed that he had decided on an anagram instead, and that was one thing that Leonard hated solving…anagrams. "I have to get back to the lab…does anyone want the brownie?"<p>

"Lactose intolerant." Leonard muttered, head bent down near the napkin.

"I'll take it if there aren't any nuts."

"Sorry, packed full of chunky walnuts. I'll just bag it up and take it with me; good thing I carry a selection of zip lock bags in my purse, never know when these things will come in handy." Amy scooped up the brownie and placed the bag in her purse. She waved goodbye to a distracted Leonard and Howard, making her way down the hall to her lab.

"What are you doing, Leonard?"

"Trying to work out this stupid anagram! I thought Sheldon was just gonna ask her in the notes, but no – he has to do it the hard way."

"Don't sweat it…I'm sure it will just end up being something lame like 'I'm sorry, Amy'."

"Nope, she got an 'e' remember?"

"Oh yeah…" Howard pulled the napkin a little closer and studied the letters again. "I'm up next, I'll drop you a text when I find out what the next letter is. If you do the same, we can get this thing figured out by the time we go home. Anyway, better scoot if I want to get anything done before I pay the good Doctor a visit in his lair." Howard disposed of his tray and sauntered out of the cafeteria leaving Leonard scratching his head as he bent over the napkin once again.


	8. Chapter 8

A jaunty whistle echoing down the corridor gave Amy advanced notice of whom might be the next person making a 'surprise' delivery. A rapping of knuckles against the doorframe confirmed her guess.

"Howard, I thought it might be you; I recognised you whistling 'Cracklin' Rosie' as you drew near."

"Ah, foiled by my love of the great Neil Diamond." Howard sighed as he presented the rose with a flourish. "For you, mademoiselle."

"Thank you, kind sir." Amy took the rose and held out her hand for the note, crooking her fingers for him to hand it over. To her surprise Howard handed over two envelopes.

"Open the white one first, please." He requested with a small smile.

"Oh My God! Neil Diamond tickets! Howard!" Amy lept up from her stool and flung her arms around her friend before she started jumping up and down in excitement.

"You may have noticed that there were two tickets in the envelope…" Howard hinted strongly and Amy looked over with a grin.

"I did notice that yes, I thought that perhaps Penny might agree to accompany me?"

"Amyyyy!" Howard groaned dramatically and found himself enveloped in Amy's arms once more.

"You dummy! Who else apart from you would appreciate the smooth sound as much as I? Of course, you're coming with me!"

"Thank God!" Howard breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on a stool near the bench. "I know we talked about going to the one last year, but we never got around to it. These are just my way of saying sorry for that, and for not being around for you when Sheldon was away."

"Awww…that's so sweet, wait! Bernadette knows about this doesn't she? I wouldn't want you getting taken off the joint account again…" Amy looked at Howard in alarm, remembering well what had happened the last time Howard made a substantial purchase without Bernadette's approval.

"Yes Amy, Bernie's fine with it…I warn you though, we're gonna have to do some serious karaoke practise in preparation for the big event. We can't let ourselves be out sung by the rest…"

"Noted." Amy nodded and they both agreed that they should practise at least once a fortnight in the run up to the concert.

"Now, how about you reveal the next letter?" Howard rubbed his hands together in anticipation as Amy slowly slid the card out of the envelope to reveal…another 'm'. "Well, we could have your name right here." Howard moved three of the cards out of the pile. "That leaves us with e, a, r and m. It could be someone asking if you want to buy a female horse…"Howard chuckled as he rearranged the letters to spell out the word 'mare'.

"Mmm…I don't think so, anyone that knows me that well would know that I have an aversion to horses…" Amy muttered as she continued shifting the cards around on the bench. "This is driving me crazy! I might have well stayed in bed this morning for all the work that I've got done…Thanks for the tickets, Howard; but I think I'm going to just pack it in early tonight and head on home." Howard immediately started to go into full scale meltdown mode and tried to think of a way of stalling her.

"But it's only three o'clock! Say, why don't you come on down to my lab and I'll let you play with the robotic arms? You've always said that you wanted to give it a try…come on, it will be fun!"

"Thank you, but no. I was going to call it quits early today anyway…I want to prepare myself for the fact that Sheldon is probably breaking up with me tonight…"

"What? No…I'm sure he's not going to break up with you tonight, Amy."

"No? I gave him an ultimatum, Howard. He's not been in contact since Leonard and I drove over to Kingman to pick him up…that pretty much says it all for a man that used to check in with me every two hours." Amy's face was a picture of abject misery and her shoulders were even more hunched than usual as she started gathering the little cards and vases together. "Why did I give him an ultimatum? I should have left it well enough alone, I knew he was struggling and yet I kept on pushing and pushing; all I ended up doing was pushing him away completely!" Amy cracked and started sobbing over the bench, Howard hovered by her side before pulling her into a hug and murmuring soothing sounds in her ear. With his free hand he sent an urgent text to everyone else in the group: **Defcon 1! Mission abort! Subject heading home HJW**

Howard gently steered Amy out of her lab, making sure that she had all of her roses and belongings. He led her over to his car, and urged her into the passenger seat. "I'm gonna take you home, okay? I don't think you should be driving right now." Amy continued to sob and turned her head toward the window. Howard leant over and gently grasped her hand.

"Listen, Amy; I know you are confused right now, but I can assure you with some certainty that Sheldon is **not** planning on breaking up with you tonight. Everyone is gonna hate me for this, but it was Sheldon. This whole thing today was arranged by him; the reason he hasn't called you is that it took him all of yesterday to get everything in place…and when you think that he came home without his wallet, phones or credit cards; I think that speaks for a very determined man."

"It was Sheldon…all of it?" Amy gasped through her hiccups, trying to stem the flow of tears and wiping her nose with a handful of tissues scavenged from her purse.

"Every last bit…that lunch today? It was what you ordered on Valentine's Day for dinner."

"But Sheldon didn't even sit with us for most of it…oh, the brownie…" Amy's cheeks flushed as she recalled how Sheldon knew what she'd eaten for dessert that evening. He'd told Leonard, Leonard had told Penny and of course Penny had sent her a text straight away with a lot of exclamation marks.

"You can't let on to the others that you know…Sheldon made us all sign a non-disclosure agreement and I don't want to…"

"Take another class?" Amy finished for him and settled back against her seat with a sigh. "Howard; would you mind driving me around to collect my car? I think I need time to process all of this."

"You sure you don't want me to take you home? I don't mind."

"I'm sure…I think I might be expecting company in around…"Amy checked her watch to confirm the time. "Fifteen minutes, please feel free to text them my alternative location."

"Already done, I bet Sheldon's having kittens right about now; I sent him a Defcon 1 notification as soon as you said you wanted to go home." Howard smirked a little at the thought of Sheldon in panic mode and wiped it off when Amy turned around to frown at him. "Okay, I'll text him back and tell him not to panic; that you just went home to get ready for your date."

"Thank you, Howard." Howard fired off a quick text to Sheldon before driving around to the other side of the university where he dropped Amy off at her car. He watched her load the roses carefully into the passenger foot well and waved goodbye as she drove sedately out of the parking lot. His phone started to vibrate in his pocket and he answered it, already knowing who would be calling.

"Everything's fine Sheldon; she was a little tearful…but I think it was just because she was tired. After all she was woken up a little early this morning. Yeah, she's okay; I offered to drive her home but she's just left in her own car…Yes, I can see Leonard pulling out now, did you get Raj to fill Emily in on the new plan? Uh-huh, dinner at the Olive Garden…yeah, sounds good. I'll let Bernie know…Okay, Sheldon bye." Howard shut off the call and leant his head back against the seat as he thought about just peeling out of the parking lot himself. "Oh Bernie…" He suddenly remembered that he needed to fill Bernadette in on the change of plans. He called up her number and waited until she picked up.

"Hi Howie!"  
>"Hey my sweet Bernadette. Listen, we had a bit of a mini meltdown with Amy just now and so things have changed slightly."<p>

"Meltdown! How much of a meltdown?"  
>"Defcon 1."Howard admitted to his wife and held the phone away from his ear to prevent his eardrum from bleeding as Bernadette screeched in his ear. "Honey, everything is going to be okay. Amy decided to head home early, Leonard's just followed her in his car to deliver the next rose and Raj has already text Emily with the change of plans. Sheldon's booked a provisional table for us all at the Olive Garden tonight. If Amy shuts the door in his face; we'll be eating at home, otherwise it might be something of a celebration."<p>

"You know something don't you?"  
>"Let's just say that Sheldon isn't the only one that can figure out an anagram. It was a pretty simple one really, Amy just couldn't see it because she wasn't ready to see it…I think the next couple of clues might just give it away."<p>

"Howard…" Bernadette warned in a soft growl, and Howard slid down further in his seat as he whispered the solution to the anagram. "Oh my goodness! I'm heading home early, I need to pick out something nice to wear just in case."

"You read my mind, I'm on my way." Howard disconnected the call after a few cutesy kisses in the microphone and backed out of the parking space to head home.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: So we are almost at the end of our little tale with only three roses left for Amy to complete the anagram; a couple more chapters and then we are done.**

Amy was sitting on the couch at precisely four o'clock when a tapping on her front door informed her that her next guest was about to make an appearance. She pulled open the door to see a slightly out of breath Leonard leaning against the doorframe.

"Good afternoon, Leonard. This is a pleasant surprise, won't you come in?" Amy stood back to let Leonard enter her apartment, although he had dropped Sheldon off on a number of occasions, she couldn't actually recall whether he'd actually ever been inside before. "May I offer you a refreshment? You look a little peaky."  
>"Water would be great, thanks." Leonard replied as he made his way further into the small living room. "You can probably guess why I'm here…" He smiled as he accepted the bottle of water she offered and unscrewed the cap to take a long drink.<p>

"Given that my IQ is considerably higher than yours, and a few points higher than Sheldon even; I think I have a pretty good idea." Leonard nearly choked on the water at her droll statement and had to sit down.

"Higher than Sheldon? Does he know that?"  
>"I doubt it, the subject has never come up; he just naturally assumed that his was the higher and I never corrected him." Amy walked over to perch on the edge of the couch and waited for Leonard to catch his breath.<p>

"Well, I don't know what to say…" Leonard shook his head and then stood up to present her with the rose and envelope. "Amy, I just want to say thank you, you've managed to do what the rest of us have failed and tried to do for years. You managed to turn the Shelbot into a real live human being and for that we humbly salute you." Leonard gave her a mock salute and pulled out the now crumpled napkin. "Now Howard sent me a text to say that the last letter was another 'm'; what's that one?" Amy slid the card out of the envelope and looked at it for a moment.

"It's another 'y'. Giving us two y's, two m's, two a's and an e and r." Amy pulled the other cards out of her purse and spread them across her small coffee table. "Howard suggested that it could spell out my name, which would leave us with m, a, r, y, and e…" Amy shuffled the cards around and Leonard grinned as he finally figured out what Sheldon was doing; it looked like he owed Penny an apology after all… He stifled the grin as Amy turned around, and pretended to frown over the letters scribbled on his napkin.

"No, still don't have a clue. Listen, I'd better be heading back to the University; you know how moody Sheldon gets when I'm not there to pick him up on time." Leonard placed the napkin back into his jacket pocket and rose up from where he had been kneeling next to the couch. "See you at Sheldon's tomorrow night for Chinese?"

"I'm not sure, let's see how tonight pans out first." Amy replied non-committedly, still rearranging the cards on the table. She finally shifted them back into a neat pile and rose up to see Leonard to the door.

"Night, Amy."

"Good night, Leonard…and thank you for what you said earlier."

"No problem." Leonard gave her a warm smile and strolled down the hallway to the elevator, whistling under his breath. He waited until he heard Amy's door closed behind him and then leapt in the air with a little fist pump. "Yes!" He yelled out and did a little crazy dance down the hallway as he sent a text to Sheldon confirming delivery.

Amy decided to do some light housework as she waited for the time to move on; by the time Leonard had left it had been four fifteen, meaning that she had forty five minutes to kill until rose number eleven arrived at her door. She whisked a duster over her sideboards and monkey statue, before deciding to take a quick shower and change into a nice dress for the evening. She placed her damp towels in the hamper and quickly applied a light coating of make-up; thinking that it was better to prepare for a pleasant evening at home with Sheldon rather than to expect the worse. A hesitant tap on the door had her walking rather sedately over to pull it open.

"Emily! What a surprise!" Amy held the door open wider to invite Raj's girlfriend into the apartment.

"I know I'm the last person you expected to see tonight, I mean I haven't even known Raj that long… and yet here I am!" Emily stepped into the living room and held out the rose and envelope. "I guess you already know what these are for, but here's number eleven. I don't know you that well, but I'd like to try a little harder in that area…would you like to come out to lunch with me one day and we can get to know each other a little better?"

"I'd like that." Amy beamed over at the slim young woman with flaming auburn hair and waved over to the table. "Do you want to hang around and see what letter we have this hour?"

"I'd love too, but Raj is waiting downstairs in the car. Here's my number, why don't you give me a call later and let me know what you come up with." Emily held out one of her business cards and Amy slipped it inside her purse.

"Will do, give my love to Raj."

"Oh you can be sure I will." Emily said with a wink and let herself out of the apartment. Amy quickly opened the envelope and looked at the next to last letter; it was another 'r' and when she laid out all of the cards, she felt the first stirring of excitement in her belly.

"Oh my!" She whispered as she held her fingers up to her lips and stared down at the cards. "How could I have not seen it earlier?" Amy took a quick picture of the cards spread out on the table and pinged it through to her bestie with a message attached;

**Am I going crazy…or does that say what I think it says? A x**

A few moments later her phone buzzed with a reply.

**On my way over…OMG! P x**

For fifteen long minutes, Amy paced up and down the small confines of her living room waiting for Penny's arrival. Every so often her eyes would flicker over the cards and then move away; when she heard the frantic pounding on her door, she raced over to pull Penny inside. "Look!" With trembling fingers she pointed at the cards on the table.

"I see it, but I still don't believe it." Penny said quietly as she stood looking down at the evidence in front of her. "What time is it?"

"Half past five…another half an hour until the last delivery."

"So, if it's another 'm'; you will have your question." Penny looked over at Amy and saw the tears rolling down her friend's face. "Hey, it's a good thing isn't it? You've been wanting this for a long time, so why the tears?"

"Happy tears, bestie…What if it's something else though? And he's trying to spell out some stupid element that he's just discovered?"

"Hush…now we're gonna go in and repair that beautiful face of yours so that when he gets here, he will take one look at you and know your answer. Come on." Penny reached over and gently wiped away the traces of tears from Amy's cheeks and led her into the bedroom to repair the damage. "A little smoky shadow on your eyelids, a touch of mascara and you're done. Good job I brought you that waterproof set for Christmas last year, otherwise you'd be looking like a panda right now." A rapping at the door had both of them leaping up from the bed and racing over to yank it open.

"Looking good, Doc." Arnie let out a slow whistle as he saw Amy dressed up in a plum coloured dress with low black heels. She did a little pirouette in the doorway and dipped into a little curtsey.

"Thanks Arnie. Last one?"

"Last one." He confirmed as he passed the last of the tiny vases across to Amy. "Don't forget this. He said this one was the most important and that you could start to open them now. He'll be here at seven for your answer."

"Ahh…well, I already started opening them." Amy gestured over to the coffee table and Arnie leant around the doorframe to see the cards neatly arranged.

"Yeah, I'm a really bad influence." Penny muttered from behind Amy and bounced on her feet as she waited impatiently for Amy to open the envelope. "Come on, Ames…rip that baby open…Let it be an 'm'…" Penny crossed her fingers as Amy slowly slid her finger along the gummed flap and drew the card slowly out.

"Well?" Arnie and Penny asked together, and Amy just handed the card over to her bestie who started jumping up and down, before leaning over to press a smacking kiss against Arnie's weathered cheek. Penny raced around to the table and put the last card in place, before snapping a picture of the completed solution and sent it out via messenger to the whole gang.

** Y**


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm gonna leave you to settle down a little, don't forget to breathe…" Penny said to Amy as she sat staring at the little cards with a look of wonder on her face, Arnie had left a few minutes ago after blubbering like a baby and saying he had the best job in the world. "Ames?" Penny jostled her arm a little and Amy looked up with a start.

"Sorry, completely spaced out there for a minute."

"Completely understandable…I ended up with a guy that kind of fumbled his way through a non-proposal that ended with a statement like 'so I guess we're engaged'. It was only afterwards that he pulled the ring out of his wallet and dropped down on one knee; he said he'd been carrying it around in his wallet for a couple of years…" Penny started crying as she recalled the night of her own engagement and Amy rubbed her shoulder.

"You've been off and on for such a long time, I guess it was only natural for you both to feel a little hesitant at first."

"Yeah, but Sheldon really thought about this…if you had seen him yesterday, Ames…Word of warning, he looked smokin' H.O.T. in his snazzy outfit that he picked out especially for tonight, he even got a haircut; although we kinda tamed that down when Leonard said he looked like an older version of Zac Efron."

"Sex on a stick hot?" Amy questioned, feeling her pulse already starting to quicken at the thought of how Sheldon looked the last time Penny attempted to give him a new look. Penny leant over to whisper in her ear.

"Much better."

"Oh my…" Amy whispered breathily as her fingers fluttered up to cover her lips.

"I'm gonna go, I don't want to cross paths with your Romeo on my way out. Call me later and I want **all **of the details!" Penny brushed a whisper of a kiss over Amy's cheek, being careful not to smear her light dusting of powder.

"A lady never kisses and tells." Amy winked over at her friend as Penny chuckled before letting herself out of the apartment. Penny sent Leonard a quick text to let him know she was on her way back and Leonard replied saying Sheldon was still dithering over which shirt to wear.

**Tell him to wear the blue one…Amy's in a plum dress so he can't wear the red or he will clash P xx**

**Sheldon said which blue one. He bought two L x**

**The darker blue, it will make his eyes pop P x**

"Hey Sheldon, have you been making eyes at my girl?" Leonard read Penny's latest text and yelled down the hallway at Sheldon.

"I don't know what you mean, Leonard." Sheldon replied as he dithered between the electric blue and the paler blue shirts.

"She said to wear the darker one as it 'makes your eyes pop'." Leonard remarked as he leant against the doorway.

"Oh, she did say something about how it matched my eye colour. Okay, I'll wear the darker one. Tie or no tie?"

"Tie." Leonard stated as Sheldon shrugged on the darker shirt and tucked it into his waistband of his new suit trousers. Sheldon expertly tied a Windsor knot at his throat before putting on the waistcoat and suit jacket.

"Come on, Sheldon. It's half past six and we need to get to the florist before they close at seven!" Leonard urged Sheldon to step up the pace and after a final check in the mirror, Sheldon patted his hair in place and checked his pocket for the last essential item.

"I'm ready." He finally announced and turned to Leonard. "Are you sure you don't mind picking up the tab at the restaurant tonight?"

"No, it's fine – you can transfer the money over as soon as your new cards come through. Now, come on!" Leonard grabbed his keys and both men sprinted out of the apartment and flew down the stairs.

"Hi Penny, bye Penny!" They shouted out as they passed Penny arriving back at the building, she gave Sheldon a wolf whistle when she saw the completed ensemble and when he turned back to face her, gave him a thumbs up in approval.

Leonard dropped Sheldon off outside of Amy's apartment, having only just made it to the florist in time to collect the final arrangement. Sheldon walked slowly up the stairs to Amy's apartment taking the time to calm his nerves and Leonard drove back to Los Robles to wait for that all important phone call.

Amy sat nervously on her couch, unable to move and watching the hands of the clock move around as if in slow motion. Finally at precisely seven o'clock there was a series of knocks on her front door. She let him finish his repetition before wiping her slightly sweaty hands on the skirt of her dress and walking over to pull the door open.

"Hello, Amy. These are for you." Sheldon gently offered her a much larger version of the crystal vase, filled to the brim with dozens more pink roses.

"Sheldon! This is too much!" Amy buried her nose in the blooms and drank in their heady fragrance.

"I remembered that you were particularly fond of pink roses; I believe it was from a passage from one of your childhood books; Anne Shirley remarked to Diana Barry that the only true roses were pink ones." Amy looked up from the roses and took in Sheldon's appearance, taking in his slightly updated hairstyle all the way down to his shiny dress shoes.

"Penny was right…smokin' Doctor Cooper." Amy said a little breathlessly, admiring the way his new shirt accentuated his bright blue gaze.

"Why thank you, Doctor Fowler." Sheldon gave her a wink and a smile. "I can say the same for you. Now, are you gonna invite me in anytime soon, or shall we have this whole conversation out in the hallway?"

"Of course! Sorry, come on in and take a seat!" Amy flushed as she realised that she'd been eying up her boyfriend in full view of the neighbours and stood back to let him enter the apartment. She turned around to place the vase on the kitchen counter and when she turned back it was to find Sheldon standing immediately in front of her with a determined look in his eye.

"Amy, there was something that I've been meaning to say; but I didn't quite know how until the other day…I listened to that song over and over and well…here we are." Sheldon took her hand and pulled Amy into his arms as he started humming in her ear. He gently led her into a swaying dance, keeping their feet barely moving as he started to sing softly;

_'So I bought you a rose on my way home from work_

_To open a door to a heart that I hurt_

_And I hope you notice this look in my eyes_

_Cause I'm gonna make things right_

_For the rest of your life_

_And I'm gonna hold you tonight_

_Do all those little things_

_For the rest of your life'_

Sheldon stopped dancing and lowered his hand to reach into his pocket. He pulled out the little box and pressed it into Amy's hand.

"I wasn't planning on asking you this tonight; I was only going to ask you to think about it…but I realised that I didn't want to wait any longer. I had initially intended for this to be a 'promise' ring, but…"

"Yes." Amy whispered softly and Sheldon gave her a mock glare.

"I didn't ask you yet."

"I don't care, my answer to whatever question you may have is going to be 'yes'. I will wait if you want it to still be a promise ring, or I'll head on over to the courthouse tomorrow if that's what you want…but my answer will always be 'yes'."

"Oh, Amy!" Sheldon pulled her tighter against his lean frame and placed his head on top of hers. "I love you, I don't know whether I've ever told you out loud; because I've said it in my head a thousand times already."

"I know." Amy whispered against his neck and he leant back to stare into her sparkling emerald eyes.

"How? And did you know you've just quoted Han Solo perfectly?"

"I know." Amy repeated again as she pressed a light kiss against his cheek, breathing in the heady scent that was uniquely Sheldon.

"You vixen!" Sheldon murmured as he lowered his head to brush his lips across Amy's. "Mmm…someone didn't eat their brownie today." He murmured as he continued to move his lips softly over hers. He felt Amy's lips curve into a smile beneath his.

"I saved it for you. I know how much you like the taste."

"Mmm…only when I taste it on you." Sheldon replied softly as he deepened their kiss further by lapping his tongue over her bottom lip. "Did you mean it when you said your answer would be 'yes' to anything?" He murmured between kisses and Amy merely murmured her response against his lips. "Good." He replied as he swung her up into his arms and carried her through her apartment toward the bedroom; kicking the door shut behind them.

**AN: I was debating whether to leave it here...but I think all of you that were kind enough to leave a review deserve a little bonus chapter...**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: We've come to the end of our little journey; I hoped you've enjoyed reading it as much I have enjoyed writing it. A big thank you for everyone that's reviewed, followed or favourited this story...Love to you all!**

"Well Doctor Cooper, that was…unexpected." Amy finally managed to breathe again after surviving what had to be the most electrifying experience of her life. All of her fantasies couldn't have prepared her for the tumult of sensations that had coursed through her body when Sheldon had finally made her his.

"Uh-huh…" Sheldon murmured as he reached out a languid hand toward her, and Amy shifted over on the bed so that her head was resting on his shoulder as she idly ran her hand through the little patch of hair matted to his chest. He was still struggling to catch his breath and Amy was making it all the more difficult as she trailed her hand down his chest to make lazy circles over his abdomen; Sheldon reached up a hand to stop her sneaky hand moving any lower and raised it up to his lips to press a kiss against the ring that he had slipped on her finger just before he had set her down on the bed.

"Vixen…" He whispered softly and Amy leant forward to brush another soft kiss against his swollen lips.

"Hmm…is that your stomach growling or you?" Amy suddenly found herself shoved to one side as Sheldon dived for his phone.

"Holy crap on a cracker!" He exclaimed, borrowing a phrase from Penny's vocabulary. "We were supposed to meet the guys for dinner at eight thirty! I booked a table at the Olive Garden and said I would let them know whether it was a go or not."

"Relax, superman. You were faster than a speeding bullet once you got me where you wanted…Look, it's only a quarter to now." Amy pointed over to the nightstand where she could just make out the glow of the numbers without the aid of her glasses.

"Oh…I guess that's not such a good thing in the bedroom is it?" Sheldon looked away from Amy, his cheeks tinged pink. He found his chin being taken in a firm grasp as Amy brought his face around to hers.

"Sheldon…it was amazing, a little fast admittedly; but we have the rest of our lives to work on it. I remember Penny saying that her first time with Leonard was an absolute disaster and it was like sleeping with her brother; I assure you, Sheldon; you have nothing to worry about in that department."

"Okay…that sounds nice, 'the rest of our lives'. But for me, I don't think it could ever get any better than what I felt with you…" Sheldon ran his fingers gently down the side of Amy's face and leant in to press a soft kiss against her lips…

"Uh-huh, none of that if you want to go to dinner." Amy pulled her lips away Sheldon's after the kiss rapidly turned heated, and dragged the sheet away to wrap it around her body. "I'm going to start the shower, five minutes each and we should still be able to make it."

"It's no good hiding from me now, eidetic memory remember?" Sheldon smirked from the bed and sucked in a breath as Amy dropped the sheet and sashayed into the bathroom. He flopped back against the pillows and flung a hand over his eyes. "That vixen will be the death of me yet."

"Sheldon, are you coming in or not?" Amy called out over the roar of the shower.

"I'll wait for you to come out, if I come in there now we definitely won't make it to dinner on time." Sheldon rose from the bed and padded over to where his clothes were neatly folded on the chair.

"I've finished." Amy announced from the doorway, and Sheldon looked over to see her small frame enclosed in a large bath towel. He dropped a kiss on her nose and grabbed another towel from her shelf as he strode into the bathroom.

"And he looks just as good leaving as he does coming in." Amy muttered as she followed Sheldon's naked form go past her.

"I can still hear you." Sheldon called out from behind the curtain, his voice tinged with amusement.

"Darned Vulcan hearing." Amy murmured under her breath as she selected a clean set of lacy, black panties and matching bra from her dresser. She shook her dress out to check for signs of wrinkles and satisfied that it was still good to wear, slipped it over her head, smoothing it down over her hips until it fell into place.

"Mmm…I like this dress." Murmured Sheldon from behind her, and Amy leant back with a wink.

"Yeah, I can tell." Sheldon shifted his hips back slightly and gave her a wry grin.

"It's got a mind of it's own…"

"Think of it like a Pringle…you know 'once you've popped, you can't stop'."

"Not helping, Amy." Sheldon groaned as he stepped into his briefs and trousers, adjusting himself carefully as he pulled up the zipper.

"Sorry." Amy said with a sincere smile, but her inner goddess was doing a little happy dance at the thought of Sheldon being 'happy' to see her. "Don't put the tie back on." She said suddenly as Sheldon pulled on his waistcoat and was about to do up the top button of his shirt in order to put his tie back on.

"Okay…" Sheldon agreed stuffing his tie in his trouser pocket. Amy walked over and smoothed his hair down at the back as well as a little at the front.

"There, sexy nerd; but not too hot. Gotta protect what's mine, can't have all the other women flocking like bees around a honey pot."

"No other women, not for me Amy." Sheldon promised with a glint in his eye and tapped her bottom lightly as he nudged her toward the vanity mirror. "Go finish up what you need to do and I'll call for a cab."

"I can drive us." Amy offered as she swiped a little mascara over her lashes and applied a little lip gloss. She decided against blusher, as the glow in her cheeks was more than enough.

"I thought you might want to celebrate with a glass or two of champagne." Sheldon explained and then looked down at his phone with a smile. "Hold that thought, it seems that Leonard and Penny are on their way up right now."

"I'm ready." Amy walked over to Sheldon's side and he immediately reached down to grasp her hand; holding it firmly within his own as they stepped out into the hallway to greet their friends.

"Ooh, Sheldon…someone's let loose a little this evening! I see you've managed to lose your tie already…" Penny nudged Leonard's shoulder and his eyes widened as he looked at the subtle differences between the couple. Their whole body language was far more relaxed and the way Sheldon kept sneaking a glance over in Amy's direction told him all he needed to know.

"Congratulations, buddy. I take it she said yes?"

"Of course, did you ever doubt it? I have been told that I can be **very** persuasive." Sheldon remarked casually dropping a wink in Amy's direction and loving the way that her cheeks flushed at his remark.

"Show me! Show me!" Penny demanded and Amy tugged her hand out of Sheldon's grasp to flash the beautiful emerald on her finger. "Oooh, shiny!" Penny turned Amy's hand from side to side watching the ring catch the light.

"Come on Penny, let her go…" Leonard tugged Penny away from Amy and leant over to brush a kiss against Amy's cheek. "Congratulations, Amy."

"Thank you." Amy returned Leonard's thanks with a warm hug and only released him when Sheldon cleared his throat.

"Do you think I could get my fiancée back now, please? We're going to be late."

"Hang on a sec, I just want to grab a couple of these." Amy dropped Sheldon's hand once again and ran over to the sideboard to gather up a couple of the miniature vases. She handed one over to Penny and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "That's for being my bestie, and for helping Sheldon out today."

"Oh Sweetie! I can't take this, Sheldon bought them for you!" Penny admired the tiny vase and tried to hand it back. Amy crossed her arms behind her back and refused to accept it.

"Sorry, no backsies."

"Okay, I love it!" Penny held onto the vase and Sheldon sighed again, looking at his watch. "Alright! Alright! Let's go."

The four of them left the apartment, Amy carrying another three of the vases. When they got to the restaurant she handed one over to Bernadette, one to Emily and passed the last one across to Raj; who blinked back tears of joy.

"I'm finally one of the girls!" He cried out and flushed as Emily squeezed his arm and assured him that she certainly didn't think so. Sheldon stood up at the table as the waiter came over with a bottle of champagne.

"I'd like to announce that Amy Farrah Fowler has granted me the honour of agreeing to become my wife." Cheers and a round of applause went up around the table and Sheldon cleared his throat again to indicate that he wasn't quite finished yet. "As you know neither of us are particularly religious and so we've decided on a small intimate wedding to which we hope you will all attend; there will only be a few additional guests that have yet to confirm their acceptance; but we've decided that we would rather share our special day with the people that matter most to us…and then have a whopping great hoedown in Texas at a later date."

"So, when's the wedding?" Leonard asked, and with a few presses of his phone Sheldon send the invitations out around the table. "Are you freakin' kidding me?" He cried out as he saw the details appear in his calendar. Penny checked her phone as did everyone else.

"Holy crap on a cracker Sheldon, if you were a member of my family my dad would be checking whether you'd knocked her up already."

"Oh My God! The Shamy already did the deed!" Howard took one look at Sheldon's twitchy expression and looked around the table. "Come on, you don't see it?"

"Howard, you are two seconds from being struck off the wedding list completely." Amy warned in a low tone and shifted slightly closer to Sheldon, wrapping an arm around his waist. Sheldon looked down at her and smiled briefly at her before turning back to Howard. He jerked his thumb at his fiancée and replied; "What she said." He turned around to the rest of the group as his phone started buzzing in his pocket. "Get that darlin', would ya?" Amy reached in to his pants pocket and scrolled through the messages.

"Wil says 'hell, yeah'. Stuart needs to check with Debbie first, but he thinks it will be okay."

"Now how about the rest of you? Who's up for a couple of days in Vegas? Our flights are booked for ten in the morning and the chapel has been booked for seven o'clock. Anyone that wants to back out, now is the time to do it." Sheldon looked around the group. "Come on, quit ya lollylaggin'; I need a show of hands for those that are comin' to watch me get hitched. The first man to raise his hand gets to be best man; and the first female gets to be maid of honour." There was a sudden flurry of hands and Sheldon smirked at Amy. "Photo finish. Too quick to judge…guess it will have to be Leonard and Penny after all."

"Vegas, baby! Come on, Leonard we need to go home and pack!" Penny jumped out of her seat and ran around the table to wrap her arms around Sheldon who remained quite stiff in her arms, but didn't flinch away.

"Gentlemen, I have already taken the liberty of clearing our absence with President Siebert. He owed me a favour or two for what he's making me do at the University." Sheldon shivered a little at the thought and Howard frowned over at him.

"Yeah, in all the excitement I forgot to ask; how did your interview go, do you still have a job."

"Unfortunately yes, President Siebert has promoted me to Junior Professor and I start giving my first lectures in a few weeks' time."

"Wow Sheldon! That's amazing, double congratulations." Howard reached across the table to shake Sheldon's hand and Sheldon reluctantly returned the handshake.

"Enjoy the rest of your meal, it's seems that our ride is about to leave and as we came with Penny and Leonard we must depart with them also. The cheque's already been taken care of, so don't worry about a thing. We'll see you at the airport in the morning." Sheldon reached down to take Amy's hand once more and they followed the other couple out of the restaurant.

"It's nearly nine o'clock Sheldon, do you want me to drop you off at the apartment first and then drop Amy off? Or are you going to be okay getting to bed a little later?" Leonard called out from the driver's seat as Sheldon followed Amy into the backseat.

"Oh, I'm not coming back to the apartment tonight. Amy will drive me over in the morning. Really, Leonard you would think as an engaged man yourself, that it would be highly inappropriate for me to abandon my fiancée on the night of our betrothal." Sheldon shocked Leonard into stunned silence and Penny nudged him to bring him out of his daze.

"Told you Howard was right, Amy just wants to get him out of those pants again." Penny muttered to her fiancé as she fastened her seatbelt.

"Vulcan hearing, Penny." Leonard murmured in response as he checked the traffic before pulling out.

"Considering that I almost forgot that I had even arranged the dinner, for once Penny you are almost right." Sheldon piped up from the backseat. "I say almost, because it is completely the other way around. Amy referred to me as a Pringle earlier and I think she has got it right."

"Pringle?" Leonard asked, not quite certain what bizarre universe he had stepped into, especially when he heard Amy giggling from the back seat and trying to hush Sheldon.

"Yeah, apparently once you've popped you can't stop!" Sheldon gave a little growl and pulled Amy over onto his lap, and started to nibble on the soft skin of her neck. Penny covered her ears and kept her eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead as she urged Leonard to pick up the speed a little. A stray look in the rear view mirror had him agreeing wholeheartedly, especially when he saw Sheldon's hand start to slip under the hemline of Amy's skirt.

"Here we are!" Leonard announced with a sigh of relief as he pulled up outside of Amy's building. Sheldon nearly tore the door off the car as he wrenched it open, pulling a giggling Amy behind him. Sheldon gave Leonard a quick wave goodbye before he started running into the building with Amy urging him on.

"We've created a monster." Penny said in disbelief as she watched the couple disappear into the lobby. "They were full on making out in the back seat of your car!"

"I know, could we please not talk about it anymore! I think I have that image burned permanently on my retinas." Leonard sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I only hope they settle down before we get on the plane; can you imagine what it would be like stuck next to a couple of horny teenagers on an hour's flight to Vegas?"

"Horny teenagers?" Penny repeated with a chuckle and then groaned. "You're right, it's like they are both sixteen; tackling that first flush of rampaging hormones…Urggh…let's make sure we don't sit anywhere near them. I remember it taking a couple of years for me to get used to things."

"Yeah…me too…It will be worse for them though…they've got nearly thirty years of pent up sexual tension to get rid of, I don't think they're gonna do that in just one night!"

Once again, Leonard was right; Amy and Sheldon nearly didn't make it to the airport on time due to the fact that Sheldon insisted that they save time by sharing a shower…Forty minutes later, they were wrinkled as prunes and running late. Then they nearly missed their own wedding due to the fact that Sheldon saw Amy emerge from the dressing room in her nurse Chapel outfit and was overwhelmed by the sudden onset of Pon Farr. Things never really settled down once they got back home; Sheldon's apartment door was always locked from the inside after Penny had accidentally walked in on the newlyweds sharing 'breakfast' in Sheldon's spot and she vowed never to borrow milk ever again. When Amy announced she was pregnant shortly after the wedding…well, it came as no surprise to anyone. Howard summed it up best of all: "What did you expect? They certainly practised enough for it! If it were an Olympic sport, they would have won triple gold by now."


End file.
